Rejected
by darkland
Summary: Martin dissapears, and the team discover lots of interesting things about his past that may give them an indication on what kind of mind frame he may be in.  also a Danny/Martin slash fic
1. Chapter 1

Monday Morning

7.45am

FBI - Missing Persons Unit Level

Martin Fitzgerald didn't want to be at work today. In fact he didn't want to be alive at all. Not after what went down on Friday night with Danny. He felt humiliated, bad, used and abused all in one. Like an easy prey that was licked and tickled before being eaten. Only in this case, it was much worse. Seeing Danny Taylor in the kitchen room making himself a coffee completely oblivious (or at least that what's it appeared to be) that Martin was standing right at the door way made Martin feel small. Like he had been when a kid when he was bullied by his father and other kids in hometown.

The weather outside was grey, dark grey, with a heaviness of rain just following on all of New York City. It currently described how Martin was feeling. How he felt all weekend. Hours of worry and regret of what he had talked to Danny. Regrets were exactly that - and Martin knew he couldn't change that.

He thought Danny felt the same way. He thought Danny was his best mate. Martin thought over the past five years they had been working together and developing their friendship that he could freely admit his feelings and his sexuality to him. Martin had felt that there was this bond and connection with Danny and he wanted to tell him. It was one thing he lied about to everyone being in this unit. Everyone just assumed that he was just a bachelor playing the field until the right girl came along and even Victor had fun in teasing him about it in front of his colleagues not so long ago. But he had decided earlier on last week after talking to a friend online in one of his support groups, that enough was enough. He basically lived for these people. Especially for Danny. They were his family. He practically lived at his desk and at this building every day when they were working on some big cases. He wouldn't have thought otherwise that his sexuality was going to be a major problem - especially for Danny who seemed to be the more caring one out of the lot.

Martin closed his eyes to blink away the tears as he thought about that night at his house when Danny's eyes met with Martin's hate and disgust. His face had met Martin's with repulsive after Martin told him his feelings for him and that he was gay. He folded his arms and looked down on the marble floor of the building as he felt those words that Danny described Martin that night. "Faggot" "Asshole" "Pervert". There were far more worse words that Martin had heard from him but when Danny turned around and told him that "no longer wanted to be friends" because Martin was gay and in love with him - it had set him off that whole weekend. A whole 34 years worth of abuse and tears that he held up inside let loose. He binged, he drank and he just sat in his bedroom and cried and cried. He had never met such hatred or disgust from anyone before. Martin's dad was just as bad, but Danny's reaction and his treatment of him that night ranked him much higher then Victor.

When Danny turned and saw Martin standing there, avoiding his eye contact, he just cruelly laughed at him and then walked up to him.

"Hey, fag." Danny toted. "Must be a struggle eh?"

Martin didn't look at him in the eye, he was on the verge of crying.

"You got some stuff you left at my house. Some dvds that I borrowed. I don't want to touch them, you better come and pick them up. Don't want to touch your gay stuff." Danny teased with cruel intent. He could see Martin's eyes and how they were searching else where and not look at him as Danny kept being in his face.

"You may constitute that as a relationship, so best to get rid of them now." Danny harped into his face, he physically pushed Martin out of the way and he hit his head on the glass window. Martin grimaced a bit and turned around to see Danny laughing at what he just did. Martin wasn't seriously injured, but his manhood was sure was.

"Fuck you, Danny." Martin quietly said as he looked away.

Danny sipped his coffee. "Drop dead, Martin. I don't like gay guys."

He then turned and swiftly moved into the office towards his desk where Vivian had just entered and was waiting for him. Sam came up to Vivian and she also said her hello's.

How could he go in there and face them? And face Danny? He didn't know it but his eyes had started to water and it was over the words that Danny had said. Although Danny was being cruel and out of spite, Martin couldn't switch off his love for Danny. It's been that way for five years. How could he just switch that off?

Martin couldn't face them. He couldn't. He had to get out of here. He would make up some excuse to Jack. He planned to say that he was sick. Speaking of Jack , he heard Jack's voice calling out to him. Jack Malone had gotten off the elevator ready to start his day at work, hopefully no big cases were on the agenda - but this was New York - some big missing case could just land in their lap. He could just go home and work on finishing a couple reports from the previous case.

"Martin, morning!" Jack called to him. Martin turned to him with his sad and teared face. He tried to immediately look away but once Jack saw the look on his face and how blood shot his eyes were. He approached him with a gentle tone.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" Jack asked.

"Nothing…." He started to say. Martin trusted Jack more then he did his father and he wanted to come out to him right then and there, just to get it out, but thanks to Danny's reaction, Martin was melting and pure petrified on the inside. All he could see was the negative in everything at this stage.

Jack folded his arms. "For god's sake Martin, you're crying, and I know you - You don't easily cry. Spill what's going on?"

"Jack, thanks but I can't. I really don't feel too well. Must have had something that didn't sit well with me for breakfast. You mind if I take a couple of case reports home, I'll work on them at home. I promise I will have them done by the end of the day. I just don't want to be here." Martin said, he didn't realize it but his voice became breakable and stuttered over some of the words that he was saying. He searched Jack and he could see that the boss was studying him.

Jack knew something wasn't right and he immediately picked up on the subtle clues the way he was saying things and the way he looked so drained to Jack.

"Martin, tell me what's going on? Are you in some kind of trouble? Let me guess, your old man giving you a hard time? Want me to sort him out?" Jack asked, he refused to let this go but when he saw Martin pound the wall with his fist, he took a step back. His mood suddenly had changed from the sad Martin that he was seeing. Now he saw a frustrated Martin, an angry looking Martin that said to him don't push him or you'll get hurt.

"Okay." Jack said quietly. "I'll let you go home. On one condition, carpish?"

"What's that?" Asked Martin , breathing a sigh of relief. He was somewhat delighted that he didn't have to see Danny today. But tomorrow he would have to deal with him, but he just wanted to get away from him today.

"You call me every three hours and you check in with me with those reports." Jack said. He knew that what he was saying to Martin was code. It was for Martin to check in with him to chat and to get stuff off his chest. Victor had been completely useless when Martin got hardly visited him, and when he did JAck could hear him doing most of the yelling to Martin about it. It wasn't exactly a good road to recovery. So on purpose, Jack and the team purposefully pushed Victor away from Martin during his recovery. What they didn't know that there was a reason why Victor was picking on his son. And the truth would eventually come out.

"You promise me, right?" Jack confirmed, by putting a hand on Martin's right shoulder.

Martin nodded. He didn't know want to say anything else except for "Thanks."

He walked back into the offices and went to his desk to pick up some reports. Jack watched as Danny brushed himself purposefully onto Martin. Jack took a mental note on this.

As Martin looked at Jack through the glass windows of the office his disappeared from view….. Without a trace.


	2. Chapter 2

6 hours

Missing

1.30pm FBI Missing Persons Unit

Jack was coming back from lunch with Vivien when he saw Martin's sister, Janice, waiting with her son, Mark, four years of age, in the reception area. He studied her face, she looked distressed and worried and when their eyes met, Jack's eyes nearly dropped. Something was wrong. Janice and Jack had met a few times at Martin's previous birthday parties and they had discussed quite a bit about police work and the missing persons unit. Janice used to be in the force, but she wanted to have a child and left to raise her son, Mark.

Vivien frowned. "Isn't that Martin' sister?"

"Janice. Yeah, it is." Jack said as he walked off forward Janice's direction leaving Vivien behind, but she decided to follow him anyway to see what was up. She had noticed that Martin wasn't in today, she thought that was odd, considering he worked his ass off despite the cruel things they saw on the job and he had started to learn trust his team mates a bit more. So Vivien thought his absence today was a bit suspicious, unless he was sick. And since Martin started at the Missing Persons unit four years ago, she hadn't seen him take a sick day. Not one. If she could see that , Jack would to. So something was going down, she had thought. Something had to be. Not that she was thinking that Martin was dead or anything.

"Janice, good to see you again." Jack said as he smiled at her and embraced her in a hug. Janice didn't say much while they hugged she just kept wiping tears off her face.

Viven noticed how puffy her cheeks were and put a hand on her shoulder as soon as Jack and Janice disembarked from the hug.

"What's wrong?" Vivien asked.

Janice followed Vivien and Jack into his office. Jack shut the door behind him and sat across from Janice on the couch. Viven sat next to her and gave her a tissue to blow her nose.

"It's Martin, Jack." Janice begin in a very worried tone.

"What's happened?" Jack asked. He could feel something was about to hit him like a tone of bricks. One of those moments when you knew that when something bad was going to happen but it was preparing you for the worst without actually hearing those words.

"He's missing, Jack." Janice cried.

Jack and Viven looked at each-other, trying to understand what Janice was trying to say. Jack only just saw him this morning, roughly just before 8-am.

"What do you mean, missing?" Vivien asked. "Were you two supposed to meet at a certain time and he never showed?"

"No, no." Janice said as she composed herself to bring herself together so she could properly talk to the two agents about her brother. "We met this morning for a coffee. But he was so depressed. I've never seen him down before."

"What time was this?" Jack asked, he took out his notepad and made a note of what transpired with Martin this morning and also took a note about what Janice was explaining.

"It would have been around 9.00am. Which I thought was odd because he never calls up to meet for coffee during the work week." Janice explained. "When we meet at the Straton Cafee on 42nd street and I saw his face , and how down he was, I knew something was wrong…."

_Straton Cafe (42__nd__ Street)_

_New York_

_9.00am_

_Martin sat across from his sister Janice with his face buried in his hands. Janice was looking at him with worry._

_The waitress brought them their coffees and then walked away. Martin poured three packets of sugar in his coffee , something that he never did, but at this point he just didn't care._

_He took a sip of his coffee and then look at Janice, who reached out her arms and touched his free hand. His eyes watery with tears and s struggle of loneliness and sadness appearing in his eyes that Janice never saw before._

"_Marty, please tell me what's wrong. Why aren't you at work? Did something happen at work?" Janice asked._

_If only you knew. Martin screamed in his head. He wiped the tears streaming down the cheek with his napkin. "I uh, I came out to my friend. The friend that I had a crush on."_

_Janice's eyes lit up she was about to smile and say congratulations but the look on his face pretty much said it all. It ended badly. She stopped smiling and leaned closer. _

"_What happened?"_

_Martin sighed. "He pretty much me rejected me."_

"_Aww, Martin I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Janice said. She wanted to give her brother a hug, but she knew that he wouldn't have wanted that. "Does this guy work with you?"_

"_No, no." Martin lied. He didn't want anybody to find out that his secret crush and secret love, was Danny Taylor, it wouldn't just make him more embarrassed then ever before._

"_You know how Dad rejected me in front of everyone at the christmas party?" Martin asked._

"_How can I forget, he was an asshole. He's lucky that Joseph didn't shoot him in the leg." Janice remembered, trying to make Martin cheer up a little. She offered a smile. He smiled back, but the sadness was so evident in his eyes and the depression that sounded in his voice, just worried Janice so much._

"_Marty, screw him." Janice said as she sipped her coffee. "It's his loss."_

"_I know." Martin said. "But we were best mates. Best mates. And he, he rejected me and the friendship. This morning he was so vicious and cold, I hardly recognized him." _

"_You didn't tell me you ran into him this morning?" Janice quizzed._

"_I just did. And besides it was just on the street." Martin lied. Again he wanted to be careful with how he was going to talk about this, he did somewhat wanted to protect Danny. He obviously understood Danny's rejection but it pained him to be feeling everything all at once because of one's man insecurities and prejudices against gay people._

Jack and Vivien were stunned by the revelation. Not only it seemed that Martin was gay, but he had been struggling with it for a while and he had a crush on someone. Jack thought immediately back to the confrontation he saw between Martin and Danny back in the kitchen earlier this morning and then back in the office after his conversation with Martin. He noticed a friction there that was sparked, and he had to wonder if it was Danny all along that Martin had a crush on.

He didn't want to speculate about any of it until he knew for sure, so he would have to hunt down security tapes of the kitchen of the time between 8.34am and 8.50am where he would be able to get a clear view of what exactly went down between Martin and Danny in the kitchen. He knew Martin was lying to protect himself from any humiliation, and Jack for once didn't blame him. But if Danny was the objection of his desire and it sent Martin on a downward spiral, he'd have no choice but to put Danny as the prime suspect in his disappearance.

"I take it by the expression on your faces, that you didn't know that Marty was gay?" Janice stated as she caught the surprised looks on both Vivien and Jack's face.

"No, we didn't." Viven smiled. "He really never talked about his private life much with any of us. Especially when it came to relationships."

Jack decided to ask a question about Victor, he knew that it was about to stur up some trouble for the Fitzgerald family but it was worth a shot and he believed that Victor was capable of anything including harming his own son if he didn't fit the mould of what Victor considered his perfect life.

Before he did though, Vivien had to ask a question.

"Was there anything else that troubling Martin prior to this?" Vivien asked.

"No , not really. When we meet up last weekend, the weekend before, he was so happy. He was just so Martin. Happy, vibrant and always joking. Even when I spoke to him on the Thursday night last week, he sounded so happy."

Jack had Martin's folder with him on the desk. He grabbed it. "Janice, I need to ask you something. Personal…. I hope you can understand why I have to ask this, but we need to ask this."

"Okay." Janice nodded. She braced herself.

"I read in Martin's file earlier today, that one of the reasons he joined the FBI was that to solve the case of your missing mother, Wivien, who disappeared after a ballet class she went to when he was fifteen. Could he have been depressed about that too?"

Vivien looked at Janice, who was gobsmacked by the question. She hadn't thought about her mother in years. She had wiped it as a mother who was conflicted about the way her life was and resented her husband for it.

"I don't know, possibly. He was more closer to her then I ever was. Besides I figured she probably took off with her boy toy when she got bored of family life." Janice said, she sighed annoyingly at even the suggestion of bringing up the disappearance of her mother. Jack and Vivien looked at each-other, they both though that maybe Martin was still haunted by the disappearance combined with the rejection from his friend and he just took off to clear his head space.

"You say he was close with your mom, correct?" Jack quizzed.

"Yes. Like I said but…" Janice started she was truly offended by the way Jack was now questioning her. It was like as if he didn't know her and was treating her like a suspect. She decided to play along, her brother was missing and all she cared about was getting him back.

"Have you considered it a possibility that combined with the anniversary of your mother's disappearance coming up and the events that apparently transpired over the weekend, that Martin just felt the need to take off?" Vivien asked. "We know it's highly unlikely but, it's something that he could have just done at the last moment. To escape everything."

"No, that's just it. Marty wouldn't just take off. He stays and fights." Janice screams slamming her hand on the table. "I thought you would have worked that out by now, since he's been working with you. He's been fighting for his life ever since I can remember and when the molestation finally stopped he had to fight back to get…" Janice realized she had said too much. She sighed and looked away.

Arguing with the probably most two of the best FBI agents in the city of New York, was not going to get her anywhere and she already had established that before she came to ask for help from Jack Malone and his team, that she would only volunteer information that proved (in her own way) to be relevant to the case. Jack could see what the heck she was doing. She was exactly like Victor. Playing a game , expecting more help from the FBI, but expecting to not be able to give up too much information.

Jack and Vivien looked at each-other.

"Janice, what on earth are you talking about? Whatever it is you think you are hiding to protecting your brother, don't! Because every minute we waste you protecting any more family secrets could jeopardize Martin. So tell us whatever it is. We can determine whether it's relevant or not." Jack said being angrier then he originally intended.

Vivien nodded at him to calm down. She knew that he and Martin were close, despite everyone talking that he was only probably using the friendship to try and get the dirt on Victor to see if he can tramp him off as director of FBI - that was just talk and Vivien confronted him about it. Even if it were true it would probably would have added even more stress to Martin's state of mind.

"Marty was molested by our uncle Max throughout junior high school. It stopped when he turned fifteen and a week after our mother went missing." Janice said as she tried to hold back tears. "I caught them in bed."

Jack closed his eyes. The fruit just delivers this family with more poisonous secrets. The thought of anyone molesting his kids just angered him so much and the shock of finding out Martin was a victim truly was wind knocking to his sense of reality.

Vivien looked away. She was stunned by the news as well. She looked at Jack and then back at Janice. "Where's this Max now?"

"You think he may have kidnapped Martin?" Asked Janice. "I hardly doubt he would."

"Why's that? Anything' possible with your fricken family. And Martin is I say what we call the scare goat for your family's disfunctinality."

"It's impossible because he disappeared after dad found out what had happened he was doing to Martin." Janice replied.

"Is that right?" Jack asked. This time he had a look of fury on his face and he just couldn't wait to get to Victor and have a discussion about this.

Janice looked at Jack as she stopped him. "I'm worried about my brother. He's confused and he's depressed. I'm worried about what he's going to do to himself if he's out there by himself. Please, please, help me find him. I don't want him to give up."

Jack looked at Janice. He could see she was terrified of the thought of Martin being dead. Jack was too. He approached her and said:

"We'll do everything. He's in our hands. We'll find him." Jack promised.

Janice smiled. "I suppose you want to talk to Dad?"

"Count on it." Jack said.

"I'll show you out." Vivien said as she and Janice walked out of Jack's office.

A moment later Jack was looking at Martin's folder, and store at his picture. Jack was blaming himself. He should have been more forceful with Martin this morning. He knew something was bugging him but he believed Martin.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Vivien said a moment later. Jack hadn't realized she returned.

Jack gave a fake smile as she sat across from him. "What do you make of this?"

"The Fitzgeralds have a lot of secrets." Vivien offered.

"That's not helping, Viv." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Just saying." Vivien shrugged. "My take on this, we're looking at Martin who's in an emotional wreck of a state right now. Given all that has happened this weekend and in his past. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to top himself."

"I don't want to look at that angle, not just yet anyway." Jack dismissed it. He knew Vivien could be right, but Jack didn't want to think that about Martin was a suicide statistic. A lot of possibilities could have happened in the last six hours, a robbery gone bad, kidnap, got into a fight, or sitting on a park bench. Except for the last one, the thoughts of what happened to Martin were pretty horrible.

"Should we bring in rest of the team?" Vivien asked.

Jack was debating that question as she asked this. He was more worried about bringing Danny on the case. After what he witnessed this morning , he was not sure if Danny can be objective about Martin's disappearance.

"Okay, spill. What are you hiding?" Asked Vivien asked. "Every time you lick your lips and stare off into space like that, something is bugging at you. Now let me in."

"This morning I think there was an altercation between Danny and Martin in the kitchen. I am not sure what it was, I didn't hear it, but when I walked out of the elevator I saw Danny make an aggressive push at Martin, who banged his head against the glass window of the kitchen door. I don't want to think about bad thoughts about Danny or Martin, but I need to get that security tape and see how long they were there before the incident occurred." Jack admitted.

Vivien nodded. "Actually Danny was pretty cold to him too this morning before he left."

"He gave him the shoulder brush didn't he?" Jack asked.

"Called him a 'faggot' as he walked by his desk. I heard it, but don't think Sam did though. You reckon he and Martin had a squabble over the weekend?" Vivien explained.

"Once I get hold of that video tape and see exactly what happened for myself, I'm going to ensure that Danny tells me exactly what happened." Jack said.

"Right, what do you want me to do?" Vivien asked.

"We're going to have put Martin's photo on the board and start doing a timeline. I want you to get the case going on with both Danny and Sam, while I track security. And I want you to keep an extra eye out on Danny and see how he reacts." Jack said.

"Sure." Vivien said as they both walked out of the office and into opposite directions.


	3. Chapter 3

Vivien put Martin's photo on the white board and started writing up some notes about Martin on the board beside the photo. She was still rather in shock to hear how her own colleague was molested by his own Uncle. His father's half brother. It was something that she would never thought Martin would have to go through. It didn't suprise her at the least that he was gay. He was always so secretive about his relationships and if it turned out that the reason he disappeared was because of his altercation with his friend (or rather ex-friend) and if she went by Jack's theory, then they could be looking at a simple suicide. Vivien didn't want to think about it as she wrote up the key elements to the disappearance. She looked at her notes and she thought back to the interview with Janice. She thought she was a bit cold when they talked about her mother and about Martin's relationship with her before she dissapeared.

_Wonder if she was jealous?_ Vivien thought. There seemed to be an unacquainted resentment through Janice's tone whens he talked about her mother's disappearance and her father. And what stood out for her was this Max character. She had said he had disappeared after Victor had a word with him, maybe he met with foul play after Victor discovered that he was sexually abusing Martin throughout the years in his childhood, but what if he hadn't though? It was known that child abusers who got away with their crimes often came back in their victim's life to taunt them.

She made a mental note about this and would check out that lead as soon as possible or get Sam to do it, or Jack.

Danny was sitting at his desk staring into space. He had remorseful guilt about the way he had treated Martin throughout the week. Sitting there at the desk with Vivien, Jack and Sam and to hear the words that Martin Fitzgerald, an FBI agent, and a friend to all , had gone missing was unbearable.

Vivien was watching him at the desk as she wrote on the white board. "Everything alright Danny?"

"Huh?" Danny was interrupted by Vivien's voice. He looked at her. She could see guilt written all over his face. He so desperately wanted to tell the truth about what happened with Martin on the weekend and this morning. He was still unaware that Jack had seen a bit of the tiff this morning that he and Martin had. And it was only going to be a matter of time before he would get the line harded from Jack.

"I just can't believe Martin's missing." Danny said.

"I know. It's hard to get your head around huh?" Sam said as she came back into the office with a coffee for herself.

"Where's mine?" Danny asked.

"In the kitchen." Sam said. She had a journal with her. It was Martin's. Apparently he had dropped on the elevator but security picked it up and Sam had taken it to her desk to read. What was in the journal was so heartbreaking.

"I've been reading Martin's journal. To try to ascertain what kind of events may have led up to his disappearance earlier this morning." Sam said. "Guys, be warned. This is pretty ugly. He has some bad thoughts in his head."

"Suicidal?" Danny was now definitely worried.

"I would be more concerned with the fact that last week outside the FBI he ran into a Max Gibson. According to Martin's journal he was his molester." Sam said as she and the others sat down. Jack joined them just at the very moment. He gave Danny a hard cold stare. He had found the video security tape of the kitchen incident and was planning to talk to him privately about it.

"So Max's back in the picture?" Jack asked. He was now worried that this child abuser was now back in the picture and hadn't something vicious in mind for Martin.

"According to last Wedneday's diary entry. Max had approached him as he was getting into his car down stairs in the parking garage. It reads:."Sam started reading that journal entry to her fellow colleagues.

_Wednedsay Journal Entry_

_8.04pm_

_I thought my past was just exactly that. My past. I ran into someone who I didn't think was even alive, let alone , would be entering my life anymore. Max. By god he's aged. Seeing him again after all these years has just sturred up some old unresolved feelings about what he did to me in my child hood. I have never forgotten that he molested me since I was up until I was fourteen. I will never forget that. But when he disappeared a week after my mother did, I found it to be comforting knowing that he would probably be lying dead in a gutter if my dad had anything to do with it. (I don't know, it would have been possible, you know.)_

_But that was just a fantasy. He's still alive and after all these years he's still wanting to be with me, to touch me and I can't help but wonder if someway he was the reason why I prefer seeking out. He coursed me into those sessions and I couldn't stop him. I know it was not my fault, but in a way I couldn't help blame myself for the endless sessions in his basement when my parents were away and left me at his place. Maybe a part of me wanted it to happen to feel loved or something. God knows that I didn't get that from my dad, only my mother._

_Max was still the same guy he had always been. He looked at me tonight with those long sad puppy eyes, longing for me and when I recognized who he was and tried to walk away and avoid any confrontation, he came after me. Obviously he tried to chat me up again, and tried to resume things. I remember what he said to me and it was scary that a grown man in his now early 70s was still longing after someone who was now grown up. _

"_I still want you so bad." He had had said to me. "Let's get together for all time sakes."_

_I was too stunned to do anything or say anything. It was like he had a complete hold on me and if I tried to move he would activate some deadly weapon that would stop me from trying to resist his powerful charms._

_I hated seeing him again. My life was going good. I was planning to admit to my best friend, my true love, that I was gay and I had feelings for him, and then Max, of all people, show up out of the blue. I am scared that he's come back to cause me trouble for the people I work with, for my family and for me. I am scared that people are going to find out what this man did to me all those years ago._

_I just want it to be over. And never have to deal with this again._

_When I got home, he was still behind me. I don't know what I was thinking. But I let him in, I didn't exactly invite him either , he just came in._

_Why didn't I try and stop him? I feel like a kid all over again… I didn't want this to happen again…._

Sam stopped reading. Her heart was breaking as she read this. Martin had come face to face with his molester after all these years and she was trying to fight back tears. Martin had wanted to fight to get rid of him, but instead Max had come for what he wanted. Martin.

Sam looked up. Everyone at the table was silent and stunned by the journal entry.

Danny sat there, more devastated by the revelation. He felt like such a prick. "Man….that's…."

He could not even finish what he wanted to say to the rest of the team. Jack eyed him for a moment, and was about to say something about the video tape to him , but he wanted to save Danny the embarrassment. He decided it would be best if he chatted with him in his office. Privately.

"I don't think we're looking at a possible suicide anymore, Jack." Sam said. "It looks like Max has come back from whether he was all these years for Martin."

Jack looked at the journal entry and then at Sam. "I bet he had this all planned all along. Figured it would be best to disappear after his mother disappeared , stay away for a certain amount of time, and then come back and hunt after Martin. This guy is a sick piece of crap."

Sam nodded in agreement. "He raped Martin that night, Jack."

Danny wanted to throw up after hearing that. He closed his eyes and couldn't imagine what Martin must have gone throughout that night seeing that piece of crap all over again.

He got out from his seat and Jack watched him walk out to to the balcony door, open it and slam it behind him. Vivien and Sam look at him and then at Jack. Sam was clueless as to what that was about, but Jack and Vivien were already high on his tail.

"Okay, I I want you and Vivien to check out Martin's apartment, see if there is anything there that could explain why he would just take off. If there is anything out of the ordinary, I want to know about asap. I got a feeling we're looking at a kidnap here." Jack instructed as he got from his chair.

"What are you going to do?" Vivien asked as she put on her coat.

"First I am going to chat with Danny then I'm going to pay Victor a visit. I have no doubt he's already in the know about Martin's disappearance." Jack said as he walked toward the balcony entrance door.


	4. Chapter 4

He found Danny with his arms folded staring at the grey skies that occupied the New York skyline. He shut the door behind him gently and studied Danny's face. Guilt was all written over his face. Jack knew that Danny was hiding something, he suspected what it was, but he didn't want to take any guesses. He decided it would be best to let his colleague to let the guilt eat him so he could start talking.

"Want to explain what's going on with you in there?" Jack asked as he approached Danny slowly. He looked over the balcony and saw the New York buildings and people and cars below the streets busy living their lives as if they didn't have a care in the world. It would be a matter of time before the FBI would have to issue a press statement about the missing FBI agent and Jack would have to be the one to make the statement in the media. The media would turn the missing profile of an FBI agent into a circus and it would most certainly hinder the investigation. But that was the least of his worries.

"I haven't been entirely honest." Danny admitted to Jack. He didn't face him though. He kept looking at the New York city buildings that were across from didn't feel like crying, but his heart was breaking because he had treated his best mate badly and he was now missing.

"Okay whatever it is, you need to tell me, because as you know, the information could be relevant and it can help with Martin's state of mind." Jack said as he folded his arms, staring intensely at Danny, waiting for some sort of response.

Danny sighed and turned to Jack, he hadn't realized it, although he mentally told himself he shouldn't show any tears, he ended up showing tears. He couldn't help it because the biggest revelation was about to open up a can of worms for Jack and the team and for the case.

"Okay. We went out for drinks on Friday night. He seemed a bit down. Only I didn't know what it was it about. Obviously we know what it partly was." Danny started.

Jack frowned. "He told you about what happened Wednesday night?"

"No." Danny said. "Jack, he didn't tell anybody about that, you know what he was like with his private life. I hung out with him more than you guys did outside of work and he still wasn't forthcoming about his past."

"Okay." Jack nodded. "What exactly happened when you met up with Martin on Friday night? I assume you went down to the pub to have a few drinks or dinner."

"Actually we were just having drinks, we had planned on going to see the new Muppets movie." Danny admitted. His face going bright red when he saw a smirk and a smile spread across Jack's face.

"Muppets? Trust me I had to sit through two sequels of Toy Story with my daughters. And a Bambi movie." Jack offered to ease the embarrassment.

"It was his idea, because he wanted to take his nephew the second time something. I don't know." Danny explained.

_The New York Grill and Shrill Pub_

_Friday Evening_

_7.15pm_

_Martin and Danny were sitting at the corner table of the Pub. They had just arrived and were waiting for their drinks to arrive. Danny wiped down a chip crumble that had fallen down on his suit jacket._

"_Will you look at that? I can't keep my suit clean outside of work." Danny smiled as he wiped it off._

"_You eat like a pig." Martin said, dryly not offering a crack of a smile. "Probably like my sister and her kid."_

"_Thanks!" Danny exclaimed. He took one good look at Martin and noticed how down he was. "Hey, man, you okay?"_

"_Yeah, I guess." Martin shrugged. "I think the case today got to me a bit. I wasn't expecting it to end that way."_

"_Neither was I, but it happens, Martin." Danny said offering him his own advice. "Look you can't spend so many minutes or hours thinking about what if's when things go wrong on a case and we end up loosing the victim. It wouldn't have made a difference at all. You can't let it get to you. It's part of the job. Sure we can't be robots, but there has to be a certain point where we have to just get on with the job and push on through the cruelness that is of this world."_

_Martin sighed. He got what Danny was saying. It wasn't exactly easy though. Martin lived with the nightmares of most of his cases since he started and he barely had time to talk to anybody about it, although he had planned on talking with the FBI shrink about it. But this wasn't what was getting him down. There was more._

_Martin just stared at Danny. Danny was oblivious about Martin's stare though as he got distracted for a moment by a text message on his phone. It was from Sam, apparently he left apartment keys on her desk and that she was coming to the pub to hand them over._

"_Danny, I have to say something and I need you to hear me out." Martin said nervously. He sighed nervously as he cleared his throat. "And I want you to hear me out and not say anything. Please?"_

"_Okay, sure . I'm your best friend . I'm here for you. So whatever it is you need to tell me, I am listening." He gave martin a quick smile and a pat on the shoulder to give Martin the go ahead that he was listening._

"_Okay, well , I don't know how to say this , so I better just come out with it." Martin said as he started to breath heavily, he started to sweat as well. "But I am os nervous, man."_

"_Dude, you're breaking a sweat. Just relax. I'm not the pope or your father." Danny joked trying to get Martin to ease, but the mention of Victor just made Martin even more agitated._

_Martin gave him a glaring look, Danny shot him an immdiate apology. "Sorry."_

_Martin breathed in and leaned in so that no one else could hear what he had to say. "Danny, I'm gay."_

_Danny's eyes shot him a furious look. A look of hatred and disgust spread all over across his face. Martin immediately saw this and sat back in his chair._

"_You - you , just didn't say what I think you just said?" Danny asked in an uptight tone._

"_I did." Martin said, now suddenly ashamed of even mentioning it. It was now going to make his second part of his confession even much worse now that Danny's reaction was not what he had expected._

"_God, are you insane?" Danny nearly shouted. "Are you gay, for real?"_

"_Yes." Martin said. He saw Danny shaking his head furiously. It was not something that he would ever thought would hear. _

"_God, you're sick." Danny said as she the waitress brought over their beers._

"_I need to admit something to you and you should have the right to know." Martin said as he went to touch Danny's hand. "I've been….ah…well…you're the best friend I have ever had in my life. Funny, handsome, strong and always willing to give people a hand. I guess what I am trying to say Danny that I am in love with you."_

"_Oh my god!" Danny screamed _

_Everyone in the pub had stopped talking and looked over at the corner table where Danny was standing over Martin, Martin looked around quite embarressed and then turned to Danny._

"_You're a sick fuck!" Danny screamed as he grabbed his beer and threw it in his face. "Daddy's little boy is a fag! What a surprise that is!"_

_Martin almost burst into tears. He stopped staring at Danny and avoided his angry and volitile stare. He just started breathing and heavily and he couldn't say much to Danny , who seemed to be so riled up that he was completly embarrassing and himself._

"_You're a fucking freak!" Danny said after he sipped his beer._

"_Danny you're my best friend. I needed to tell you." Martin quietly said. "And keep your voice down, you're embarrassing the both of us."_

"_I couldn't careless Martin. There are certain rules in friendships. 1. You don't tell your best friend your gay. Because it's just wrong. And 2, you don't tell him that you're in love with him. What makes you think that I would reciprocate those feelings? You and me - there's no friendship anymore."_

_He grabbed his coat and stormed out the pub and not realizing that he had just brushed passed Sam who just walked in and saying Hello to him._

_Martin was left at the table completely embarrassed and avoiding everyone's stairs like the plague, by focusing on the beer that was in his hand._

Jack had stopped writing notes and gave Danny the most evil looking death stare that you could imagine. He wanted to grab Danny by the throat and punch him in the face. It was one thing to embarrass someone but to reject someone based on their sexual status and their feelings was another. He had no idea Danny was such anti-homosexual person. He gave the impression that he welcomed all.

Danny caught the fury in Jack's look. "I know. I know."

"You know what?" Jack screamed at him.

Inside everyone had heard Jack's fury. Sam and Vivien looked up from the whiteboard and store outside to see Jack going fully onto Danny.

"He was your friend! Best friend!" Jack screamed. "And you decided to humiliate him in public by screaming out his sexuality in front of everyone at the pub! What on earth possessed you to do that to Martin?"

"I don't know!" Danny said trying not to burst into tears. "I just over…over reacted!"

"Yeah, big time!" Jack exclaimed as he put his hands on his hips. "Martin is many things , and we all didn't know that he was gay. But he reached out to you Danny and he confessed that he was in love with you. Okay it's one thing not to reciprocate those feelings - but have you heard about letting your friend down gently instead of making a big production out of it for the whole pub to hear!"

Jack normally didn't get so riled up over things like this because usually it didn't concern him at most. But because this was Martin and Danny, the dynamic between the two best friends had changed and it had affected Martin today.

"I…" Danny couldn't help but start crying a little bit.

"Fuck off, you're crying!" Jack shouted. "I can't believe it. Don't make this about you for god sake!"

"I am not!" Danny tried to say but all came out was muffled words.

Jack closed his eyes for a second and counted to ten. Danny stood there waiting for Jack to say something , he was about to say something, but he couldn't. He had to wipe the tears that rolled down his cheeks.

"Let me guess, the altercation this morning that Martin was worked up over, in the kitchen….It was about Friday wasn't it? I've seen the security tape, Danny. Don't think about lying to me about it either." Jack asked. He had to make down some more notes on his pad.

"I picked on him." Danny admitted, ashamedly. "I behaved like an idiot."

"More like a school yard bully. You gave him a knock that he nearly went through the glass door. Lucky for you it wasn't hard enough to put his whole body through it. And Vivien saw you give Martin another shove when you walked by his desk this morning as he was packing his things. Don't bother trying to deny that either." Jack angrily said.

Danny looked away.

"I never considered you to be a complete bigot or a bully, Danny. It's funny how I missed the mark with you." Jack shouted.

Danny turned to him. "I know what I did to him was so wrong , and believe if I had known that this was going to happen, I would have told him how I felt about him myself. Jack, you know me! I am not good in relationships. Or friendships. I usually screw them up. But with Martin it's different, I thought if I could just sort out my feelings first and…and..and…"

Jack frowned and folded his arms. "Oh, wait a minute….."

He saw the puppy eyes look Danny was giving. Jack worked it out. Danny was completely in love with Martin.

"You're in love with him aren't you?" Jack asked calmly.

"I always was." Danny admitted. "I was so scared to be admit that I was in love with my best friend ,so…."

"So instead of embracing it, you decided to reject it so you didn't have to deal with it." Jack finished for him. They both turned back to look at the New York skyline.

"And now he's missing." Danny said glumly. "Because I couldn't get the courage to kiss Martin and admit the same feelings that I had."

Jack sighed. "I feel like I am trapped in an episode of Bold and The Beautiful. But that's beside the point."

Danny chuckled. It felt like that. It was a melodramatic moment between both men and it did have that soap opera drama to it.

"I didn't know about the molestation. I didn't….It must have been so hard for him to trust people. To trust himself." Danny thought out loud.

Jack sighed. "No one knew. He felt ashamed over it like most of our victims do in that situation. But if Max has truly returned and kidnapped Martin, god only knows how he sensed the vulnerability in Martin."

"God only knows what he's doing to him." Danny said in a thoughtful tone. "I just don't want anything to happen to him, Jack."

Jack put a hand on his colleagues shoulder and said. "Neither do I, we're going to work off our ass to get him back, you hear me? Take a couple minutes and cool off. I'll see you back inside. Oh and Vivien and Sam have to know about this. If you want me to tell them, I will, but it's probably best for you to tell them."

Danny acknowledged what Jack had just said and he watched as Jack went back into the building. Danny sighed and looked up at the sky and said. "I am going to find you, do you hear me Martin? I am going to find you and tell you how I really feel, I need that chance to make things right with you."


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so we now can safely assume that Martin's state of mind this morning was troubling. From the information, that Danny provided me, we have to also look at the possibility that he may do something to himself." Jack said giving Danny a look. But it wasn't a look of distaste or anger, it was a look of "you have to tell them or I will". Jack didn't want to have to do it, but if Danny didn't he would have no choice.

"What's he talking about, what information?" Vivien asked as she put down her pen and clasped her hands together. Sam looked at her and then at Danny.

"Did something happen between you and Martin that we should know about?" She pressed.

"It's kinda hard to explain." Danny started as he cleared this throat.

"Not from where I'm standing." Jack butted in.

"Okay, spill." Sam instructed.

Danny closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them and began to explain the situation that had occurred on that Friday night. Vivien and Sam's face concentrated on Danny's. Trying to hide and anger and surprise at when Danny described the fallout from when Martin told him he was gay and in love with him. When he stopped talking , Sam cleared her throat.

"That explains why you stormed right passed me in the pub, on Friday night." Sam reminded him as she sat back in her chair.

"You were there?" Jack asked, surprised.

"I didn't see it. But I did see Martin's face. He was completely flat. Everyone in the pub was staring at him. Obviously, no thanks to Danny." Sam explained, adding an insult to Danny while she was at it. She didn't know what it was up with guys and feelings, but she thought Danny would have been more sensitive to Martin's situation.

"Okay, I get it - Okay I hurt him. And I have to live with that." Danny angrily said. "But I can't do this with you right now, Sam. He's missing. We have to find him."

"He's right. With Martin missing, this is going to be a high profile case because he's with the FBI. And I don't want anything jepordizing this case. So whatever you may think about what you just heard, just leave it in your brain and let's focus on the case at hand, okay?" Jack warned.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Sam felt a sting of fury being sent her way by Jack when she caught his look. So she decided to leave Danny alone.

"In regards to the journal entries, was there anything else that stood out?" Jack asked.

"Well , I hate to bring it up again, his latest entry on Friday night was about Danny's rejection." Vivien said, looking at Danny. "He was pretty cut up about it. Just said the usual ,felt like he had been at a dinner with his father, who was a controlling and self absorbed prick and felt humiliated that he lost his best friend in the world."

"No denying that Victor is a prick." Jack muttered.

"You going to interview him?" Asked Danny.

"After this, yes." Jack said. "We need to also go through Martin's apartment and see what's there and if anything else happened there. Vivien I need you to check the outgoing and recieving of phone calls that Martin may have recieved during the week here at the office, that may be out of the ordinary, and also need to have a look at his financial statements, recent transactions. Everyone clear on their jobs to do?"

Everyone nodded.

"Let's go." Jack said as he got out of his seat and headed back to his office.

Sam walked up to Danny and cleared her throat. It looked like she had to go and examine Martin's apartment with Danny. She had to put down her disappointment and her personal feelings and resentment about Danny's questionable behaviour and treatment of Martin away while they investigated the case. She just couldn't help herself, she knew it was none of her business personally and professionally, but she always trusted Danny and Martin and believed in them both. She knew they were best friends but to have Danny reject Martin in the curliest way imaginable and in public just to nor deal with it , was in Sam's books immorally corruptible. It made her like Danny less, really. That's the way she felt and she couldn't switch it off, even though she was going to make herself to do that.

Danny turned to her and nodded. "You drivin?"

"Um, no. You are." Sam pulled a fake smile. She then followed him to the elevators and they both stepped in it together.

Sam stood there and cleared her throat. She avoided any conversations with Danny by not looking his way and he picked up on that. Danny just shook his head.

"You can't be doing this , Sam. Not now. Not while Martin's missing. I don't need you judging me or questioning me in front of my colleagues." Danny furiously said. "I know I did wrong by Martin, I can freely admit that now. But you have no right to attack me in front of my colleagues. It's none of your business."

Sam shook her head , nodding that she was acknowledging what Danny was saying to her, but she refused to say anything. She was afraid if she said anything to Danny at this point, it wouldn't be nice and like Jack said - it was time to keep the peace and to get on with trying to figure out what happened to Martin.

_It was going to be a long ride to Martin's place!_Danny thought. _If she wants to be a bitch, I should be able to handle that. I can handle it. I can't let her get to me. I know I was wrong. I just wish she would stop giving me that cold death glare. I got that from Jack and that was scary enough! But to have my own colleague to give me that look, it really was frightening and it's made me realize how prickly of a bastard I really was to Martin._

Danny could imagine himself saving Martin's life. He could imagine apologizing time and time and over and over again to him in the hospital as he recovered his injuries that he never meant to hurt Martin the way he did that night, but Danny was afraid that wouldn't be so forgiving if they found him alive. He closed his eyes to think about the night that Martin came out and confessed his love to him. As he remembered the words and the look on Martin's face, Danny remembered the words and the look he gave Martin. He remember his deflated, rejected and pale face when he shouted at him. It wasn't something that Danny could forget , but it was now something that he wished never happened. He should have came clean to Martin about his real feelings for him. He should have been true to himself but instead he hid behind the macho typical stereotype that most men hide under when confronted with the unknown. He felt himself tearing up again as he looked at a photo on his phone with Martin and Danny both goofing off at the camera at a Yankees vs Mets game a few months back. Danny had his arm around Martin's neck pretending to strangling him while poking his tongue at the camera , while Martin was smiling happily. The best smile he had on his smile that Danny ever saw. So warming, inviting and magical, which was what Danny became attracted to in Martin in the first place. Those were the main reasons, but he came attracted to him for other reasons to. He was pleasantly surprised by Martin's easiness and warm going nature when he got to know him outside of work. Always willing to listen to Danny's bitching about life and any problems that he was going through. He didn't forget the moment when Martin offered his support when Danny told him that he was tempted to throw a bottle in his own lap and attack it and just drink it to shreds.

Danny was interrupted by his thoughts when the elevator reached ground level and let out a loud _ding._ He and Samantha watched the elevator open and they both hurried out, knowing that they were going against time in order to find out what really happened to Martin.

**Martin's Apartment**

**2.30pm**

Martin's apartment was cornered off by Police "DO NOT CROSS" yellow tape at the front door. A FBI agent and a NYPD Officer were standing there guarding the door so that no one from the building (residents) would try and enter and interfere with the investigation. Danny and Sam had arrived just moments before and they were completely stunned at how bad the apartment was in. There had been a massive struggle in the apartment. Tables and chairs had been turned, the 40-inch plasma screen that used to be on the wall was now in pieces on the floor. Plates had been thrown and smashed all over the place where the closet was by the kitchen. Danny stared at the endless amounts of blood that lead from the bedroom to the doorway. It was fresh , and hadn't sunk into the wooden floor. The forensics team were having a look at the blood.

Sam was looking in the bedroom. It seemed to be where the struggle began. She looked at the state the bed was in. She walked up to it , her eyes were praying not to find anything that would ensure that Martin's life was definitely endanger. But she noticed more blood on the bed head and on the bed side table. She turned to the sheets to examine them, they were stained on parts of the sheet. She closed her eyes.

Danny walked in and said. "There's alot of blood in here, Sam."

"Yeah, I know." Sam said gutted by the news. "But it may not be Martin's. Whoever he was confronting, there was definitely a major struggle. It started from the bed by the looks of it."

Danny took a look at the stains all over the bed. "It's definitely not blood. Seamen?"

"We have to get them tested." Sam sighed. A forensic officer had approached the agents.

"We found this in the garbage." The forensic officer said.

It was a kitchen knife. And it was bloody.

Sam looked at Danny. Both were reading eachother's minds.

"Okay, let's put the facts together." Danny cleared his throat. "After he spoke with Jack, which was just after 8.55am. He went to his desk and grabbed a few case files. He comes home. Someone knocks on the door. Martin lets him in. And they get into an argument and there's a major struggle. One of them stabs each-other, but it doesn't make sense though. If one of them is injured you'd think they'd call an ambulance right? Let's put a trace on a few hospitals around the area to see if Martin or his attacker were admitted."

"We don't know who it actually is." Sam said. "I know we are looking at Max as the prime suspect, but I am not sure the blood is all Martin's."

Danny shrugged as he stared at the mess that was Martin's bedroom. "Maybe we should…."

"Found these letters address to your colleague on the kitchen table. They've been opened. I had a quick read of them, it looks like he had a stalker." The female police officer said as she handed the letters to Danny and Sam. "They're pretty sick. You need to read them."

Sam looked at the from address of the letter. "It's from Max. Judging by the amount of the letters we have in our hands, Danny. He's been stalking Martin for years. He's known for at least 6 years where Martin lived and where he worked. Some of them are addressed to the FBI Missing Persons Unit."

Danny ignored Sam's comment. But she was telling the truth. The dates on the letters were consistent. Max had finally tracked down his victim, and had been sending him letters on a monthly basis for six years.

Danny read one of the letter out loud as Sam read one silently to herself "Dear Martin… my love, my joy, why oh why must you not write back? My heart has been aching for you, hot son of a bitch, Come and give me what I need. I need you back. I shouldn't have let your father take me away from you, it wasn't right. What I would do to be near that soft body of yours again. I have seen pictures of you from the FBI Profiles database and I must say you have grown to be a decent young man. How big is your… "

Danny's voice trailed off.

Sam gulped. The letter made her slightly sick to the stomach. Max was torturing Martin with his words, he had tracked his victim and was making him suffer. _Why did Martin have to suffer alone? Why couldn't he come to us?_ She thought. She then noticed a red enveloped letter addressed to Martin, it was still from Max. This time it had a photo in it. Sam gasped at the photo. It must have been taken when Martin was fifteen because he was lying naked on the bed and he was crying and Max was beside him with his hands down below Martin's waist and was smiling for the camera.

She read the letter out loud.

" 'You fucking son of a bitch. Why are you not answering me? Did I not teach you respect when I showed you that stuff when you were a kid. I've been wanting to meet you for to catch up with old times for a while now and you continue to ignore me. You piece of crap - Think you're Stuff now that you're with the FBI Missing Persons Unit. I'm coming for you Martin, you hurt me and you know I can make you disappear. See you soon.' ". Sam looked up, this time really worried. She handed Danny the photo. He gasped in shock at what he saw.

"When was this dated?" Danny asked in a worried tone.

"A week Wednesday before last." Sam replied. "Jesus christ, Danny - he threatened him. We are looking at a kidnap. And with all this blood around the apartment, there's definitely no telling what he's done with Martin. He's delivering on his threat."

Danny looked at her.


	6. Chapter 6

**2****4 hours Missing**

**9.00pm**

The warehouse was cold and damp. Water was dripping from the roof and the cement was dirty. A matters with a body on it was lying across in the middle of the warehouse. Both arms were chained to the pole in the middle of the warehouse. Martin was lying half concious on the dirty old mattress. His face was pale bloody and dried blood had stopped below just below of his two black eyes. He was still wearing his suit the day he went missing, but his white collared business shirt was stained with blood, his jacket was damp and his pants were wet due to the water leaks of the roof.

Martin was trying not to cry, but he was scared. He had been here for nearly 24 hours. And he didn't know what Max wanted. All he did was suffer through more and more of the abuse that Max did to him as a child. This time he was an adult and he couldn't stop it. As a kid he didn't scream out in pain or beg for him to stop, but this time Martin was begging for his life. Max was more psychotic then ever. He had forced himself onto Martin on a three hour basis and then tortured him by beating him and depriving him of any fluids, which made Martin weak. He figured that this was what Max wanted so that he could way him down so that it would be easier for Max to control.

But Martin was so tired. So tired. Weak. Bruised. Violated. A wreck. He didn't know how long he was here and he was having troubling having co-herent conversations with Max to try and negotiate his way. He tried to look down to see if his legs were tired, he was numb in both legs. He felt damp. Martin moaned. He was so bruised that he could barely keep his eyes open.

"W…Why?" Martin asked. "I am not your victim anymore. Please just leave me alone."

His voice got caught through his throat and tears formed in his eyes. "Please, Uncle Max!"

Max didn't say anything. He just stood there. He then suddenly went down on Martin. He started kissing him from his shoe's and up his leg, up to his torso and then he put his hand around Martin's face.

"I love you, Martin. Can't you see that?" Max asked. "Why do you think I came back for you?"

He kissed Martin on the lips, but Martin pulled back. So Max got angry and wacked him in the face with a baseball bat. Martin groaned in pain.

"Please stop!" He begged. "I can't…I can't….I can't…."

"WELL I CAN!" Max screamed as he hit Martin across the face again this time with his fist. This time a loud moan of sorrow escaping Martin. "You will not deprive me of what I need from you Martin!"

"What?" Martin cried. He couldn't believe he was in this very moment again. Being abused again by Max. He had suffered for what he did to him for years, then he started to stalk him for six years, Martin ignored those letters, but it backfired on him because now Max seeked him out. Martin realized he had carefully planned it. He had knew what he was doing since he disappeared from his life all those years ago.

"You look so nice in that suit." Max said as he put his hands down below Martin's waist. "I've got you all to myself. But I got even bigger news for you Martin, I know about you being gay. I know all about your humiliation on Friday night."

Martin tried to lift his head up but he couldn't , he grimaced in pain as he spoke. "What? What are you talking about?"

Max licked his mouth as he leaned closer into Martin's bruised faced and ran his hand over it, feeling Martin's bruised skin and jawline. He smiled. "I felt so sorry for on Friday night. The way he rejected you. I would never do that to you."

Martin was horrified at the thought that Max had been there. "This is why you kidnapped me? To torture me? Then to try and save me? Is this what this is about?"

Max looked at Martin's he could see in the eyes of his victim that the question was more a statement. His smile dropped from his face. "You…he hurt you, Martin."

"I have to live with that , like I have to live what you did to me for all these years, for the rest of my god forsaken life." Martin spat at him.

The spit landed in Max's eye. He rubbed it out with a tea towel.

"Behave, Martin." Max warned. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Martin edged on. The pain in his leg and abdomen was getting worse. "Let me starve to death? Please do, I rather die then have to be here for the rest of my life."

He watched as Max got up and took a good kick to him in the right side of his body. The pain thrusted upon Martin like an ice burg colliding with a ship. Martin screamed out in pain loudly. He breathed in heavily and watched as Max walked away.

Martin stared at the ceiling of the warehouse. He realized that talking his way out of here was not going to work to his advantage. He tried to move his hands around the handcuffs which were tied around the pole, but he couldn't. However he felt something in his suit pants that was rather small and sort of metal.

_My Mobile phone! _Martin screamed in his head excitedly. This was good. Max, had completely forgot that Martin had his cell phone on him. Martin tried to move to his side, but he struggled because of the left rib being broken by the amount of kicks he had received back at the apartment and here at the warehouse by Max's boot. As he turned he noticed that his trousers were stained. He had pretended to be somewhere else , on a different scenery when Max was on top of him so he wouldn't have to think about the body reaction to what Max was doing to him down his trousers. Martin thought if he could get his phone by his feet he could somehow get his toes to dial Jack's number but he'd have to kick off his black business shoes first. But he didn't have time to go further then that, because he heard Max come back from wherever he went. He quickly knocked phone down beside the left side of the mattress with his leg and he looked passed to see Max come out with a lighter and some cigarettes.

"Do you smoke, Martin?" Max asked with a devilish grin on his fat podgy face. Max had no hair, was bold, and weight over 100 kilos. He was pale white and had pimples all over his of his eyes turned in as he looked directly into Martin's eyes. That freaked Martin out enough to close his own eyes so he wouldn't have been put through seeing that grotesque moment again. Max wore a dark pink shirt and mismatched pair of blue and red jeans. He wore a green and orange socks and some bunny rabbit slippers.

"You know, Max." Martin began.

"Yes?" Max asked as he put the cigarette in his mouth.

"I pitty you." Martin said strongly. "What kind of parents deserved to have a son like you? A sick perverted Caucasian egg sucker who likes to have his way with little boys."

Max smiled. Amused by Martin's attempt to baste him with his anger again. "Not going to work, my son."

"I am not your son!" Martin screamed, this comment had angered him and he had enough strength to get that across. "Max, don't you have better things to do with your time then to torture? Either let me go or kill me."

Max looked across to see Martin's mobile phone. "Ahh I see."

He grabbed it, Martin looked on in angry and only one chance.

Max decided to rest the phone on Martin's chest. "Okay, I'll let you call your people."

Martin tried to frown, but when he tried, it his forehead hurt. "What?"

"You can let them know you're okay. But don't tell them anymore or otherwise I'm going to lay on top of you again." Max threatened.

Max grabbed the phone. "What's the number?"

Martin looked at him, he rested his head on the mattress and closed his eyes.

Jack was in his office writing out some notes about his conversation with Victor Fitzgerald. The guy was a complete moron. He not only refused to participate in the investigation but he refused to acknowledge that his son being missing for 24 hours was a concern nor a case. Jack couldn't work this guy out. One minute he was hot, then he was cold, then even tempered and damn right nasty. His back got arched up though when he quizzed Victor about the step brother Max. He refused to believe that Max would have had anything to do with his son's disappearance.

For the whole 40 minutes he was there, Jack couldn't get through to him much. He just refused to play ball. He needed to press him again to make him see reason. He knew what this was all about. He was angry at Martin for two things - For being a homosexual and secondly for not following Victor's mapped career path plan that he had for Martin.

Jack thought. _Martin,you have guts mate. Standing up to this dipstick._

Vivien entered his office. "Hey I got nothing on Martin's lines here at work."

"Anything back at his apartment?" Jack asked. He was now focusing on the more important areas of the investigations. The phone calls weren't going to turn out much.

"Oh yeah." Vivien said as she walked up to his desk. "There was a huge struggle in the bedroom and it appears that either Martin or his attacker is severely wounded. There's a whole lot of blood. Forensics should get back to us within the next hour or so with results."

Jack sighed depressingly. "That's not good news at all, Viv."

Vivien caught the depressed look in Jack's eye. She sat down and sighed along with him. She was very worried about Martin's well-being. It was 24 hours, there was too much blood at the crime scene and the leads were not turning up as much as they thought. "I know, Jack. I know it doesn't look good. But he's resourceful. Remember when he got lost with that purp down in the woods? If he can get out of that, I'm sure he'll be okay."

Jack looked at Vivien and nodded, half what agreeing to what she's saying. "He…."

"He…what?" Vivien asked.

"I don't want him to die,Viv." Jack said trying not to get teary. But it was hard for when you worked with someone for so long you get used o their quirks, their style and their prescene.

Vivien gave him a smile. "Neither do any of us."

"His father is a piece of….bile." Jack muttered. "I wanted to smack him to kingdom come."

"What happened?" Vivien asked.

"He was more concerned about how this would make him look in front of the dick-heads in Washington. It's just politics for him." Jack said. "He then went into a rant how Martin's sexuality was destroying his career with the FBI. You know the reason they don't talk? It's because Martin's going through a phase with this whole gay thing. So he claims. Thinks Martin will be over it soon."

"He's an a grade moron." Vivien agreed. "Did he say much on Max?"

Jack shrugged. "He clammed up when I told him I knew about Martin being molested. He refused to play ball. He said that Martin's abuse has nothing to do with the 'so called case' and that Martin should never ever have mentioned it. I gave him the facts that it looked like Max is back in the picture, but he refuses to believe it. Then stormed out of the interview like a child."

Vivien shook her head in disgust. She then leaned over. "Listen, we could be right about Max kidnapping Martin. Samantha called before and she said that over the last six years Martin's been receiving letters of a romantic nature from his abuser."

"Max." Jack nodded.

"Oh and it gets better, in the last six weeks, he's received more frequent violent and threatening letters from Max. In the six years he tried to communicate with Martin, he never responded which I believe it's set him off and prompted him to come down to New York to see to fix up Martin." Vivien said.

Jack rubbed his chin. "This guy has nothing to loose."

"They're bringing the letters for us to read. According to the witness's at Martin's apartment building they heard Martin howling for help around about 9.55am. THe building super got told this, and as he was going up he saw Martin being lead down the stairs in handcuffs by a man who seems to fit the description of Max." Viven explained. "He was seen wearing a balaclava over his heard and a trench coat."

Jack took notes on all of what Vivien said onto his notepad.

Before he could say anything further Jack's phone rang. It wasn't his mobile, it was his desk phone. The caller I.D on the phone screen said : Martin Fitzgerald

Vivien stood up and said. "Let's put a trace on it."

She quickly hurried out of the room to get a small technical team together.

Jack picked it up and put it loud speaker. He could hear Martin's raspy breathing into the phone.

"J…Jack?" Martin stammered. His voice was so low , Jack could barely make out his voice.

"Martin?" Jack asked. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Help me." Martin begged groggily.

"You sound terrible." Jack said. He had to try and keep him on the phone so that way the FBI gurus could immediately pick up his location as his FBI issued cell phone had a tracking device in it.

Martin was trying not to cry but he let it all out at the moment. He couldn't hold on for much longer. Emotionally. .. Both were the throe of his pain. He was in pain. Bruises all over his body proved that he could barely could feel his arm anymore.

Jack sat alert when he didn't hear money respond. He heard him cry. "Martin, talk to me. Do you know where you are? Who are you with? Who did this?"

He didn't want to put extra pressure on Martin, but he had no choice, he needed to keep him on the phone. He was worried about Martin's mind frame, he could hear his tears and when he spoke he sounded very weak.

"Warehouse." Martin managed to say.

"Do you know where?" Jack asked.

"He blind folded me on the way here." Martin coughed. "Jack, I don't want to die. But I can't take any more of this."

Jack closed his eyes. He couldn't imagine what Max had been doing to Martin. The sick perverted dope was killing him slowly and painfully and Jack wanted to prevent that for Martin's sake more then his own.

"You're not going to die, Okay?" Jack enforced into the phone. "Don't start giving up Martin, we're going to find you. And put that sick son of a bitch in a cell with the dogs without a trial."

On the other end, Martin was shaking all over. Max had shot him in the leg and Martin kept his hand on it as the blood came gushing out like a raging river. He was in a different room in the warehouse. It was damp, cold and there was no light. He couldn't see anything except for the light on the phone. He felt like the life was being drained out of him purposefully and slowly and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Martin smiled through his pain. "Feed him to the sharks, more like it please."

"Where exactly are you in the warehouse?" Jack asked. Vivien was now in the office with him again sitting across from his desk.

"I can't see anything, but all I know I'm in a room . It's smaller then my apartment but it's very damp and cold. I don't think I can hold out in here." Martin said, his voice sounding as if he was giving up.

VIven slammed her hand on the desk. "Damn it , Martin, stop talking like that."

"Viv, he shot me in the leg." Martin said into the phone.

Vivien and Jack looked at each-other.

"How bad is it?" Asked Vivien.

"Pretty bad. I'm starting to get really cold and shaking. The wound won't stop bleeding." Martin replied.

"Hang in there." Jack said. He looked up to see one of the the technicians come in.

He handed him a piece of paper. They had gotten the location of where Martin was being held.

"Jack, he's coming." Martin said weakly. THen the line went dead.

"Let's get a team together!" Jack commanded. "We have an agent we need to save before Max does anything else to him."

"He's not sounding too good, Jack." Vivien said as they hurried out of the office and down the hallway.

"I know." Jack said. "Get Danny and Sam on phone. Tell them where the warehouse and we'll meet them there."

Warehouse

3.45PM

Arington Avenue

The abandoned warehouse where Martin's cell phone had traced his location was on fire by the time the FBI had gotten there. The fire was completly out of control. Jack and Vivien quickly hurried out of their car and Jack started screaming out for Martin's name.

Debris of the wood from the warehouse were now collapsing and the exterior of the warehouse began collapsing inward.

Jack was about to hurry in the burning building to fire to find Martin, but two NYPD officers and a firefighter had to restrain him.

"If there is anyone in there, it's too late. They're gone." One officer said.

Jack managed to get out of their grip. Devastated that they may have been too late to save Martin. He watched in horror, as well as did the others as the firefighters battled the blaze.

Danny , Sam and Vivien watched on in horror, not knowing what to say until one of the NYPD Officers approached them.

"We have a witness who saw a van matching your agent's description being shoved into the back of the van." He said.

"Did they get a description?" Sam asked, a huge sigh of relief appearing on her face.

"An overweight guy with a balaclava over his head. Not much else. The van was grey, and had the number plates 394-KYGNY. We're running it through the base now." The officer said as he handed Sam a note with the information on it.

She turns to Jack and approaches him. "The phone call was a trick. Max knew that Martin was going to call us on his phone, and that his phone was traced with the FBI GPS. He had it planned. He's got a second spot."

"Alright." Jack said, he wasn't sure what they could do this very moment but they needed to try and catch up with Max who obviously intended to play that cat and mouse game with the Feds. "Max obviously wants more time alone with Martin, we know that Martin has been shot and is being tortured. There is no telling how long he can even last under those extreme conditions. Viv, Danny you guys need to pull up any activities that Max has been doing over the last week while in New York, pull financial records, any kind of record anything that has him hiring out warehouses or storage facilities. My bet now he's taken Martin somewhere subcluded and away from the city. Sam and I are going to pay Victor another visit in his temporary office here in New York."

"Good luck." Danny offered not meaning to joke, but when it came to Victor, Danny knew Jack would be hitting stone walls and bricks.

**FBI**

**Executive Department**

**4.15pm**

Sam and Jack walked up to the reception desk and alerted the receptionist that they needed to speak to the Director, Victor. She said to take a seat and they did.

Sam sighed. They were wasting time, she knew it, Jack knew it and VIctor knew it. It was a mind game with Victor, you could be dying and you could be waiting almost a day to get in with him.

Jack wasn't too pleased with how he stonewalled the conversation about his son earlier today. He would have thought given the situation with his son and his struggles , that he would put pass their differences and be more forthcoming about everything that they had discovered about Martin's life. His sexuality, his childhood abuse and the disappearance of Martin. Instead he was greeted with the usual harshness and cold greeting that Victor liked to give all the people in the FBI that were not on his christmas list (and that included everyone in the Missing Person's Unit department).

He tapped his foot on the ground. He became restless on the chair and looked at his chair.

"This is bullshit." Jack whispered to Sam.

"I know, you'd think he would be more concerned about Martin's disappearance." Sam agreed.

"You'd think he'd protect his son from his stepbrother , too." Jack said. "I can't believe he would have allowed such a sick pervert in his life and ignore the damage that he did to his son."

Sam was about to say something, but she saw Victor come out of his office. He spotted her and Jack and immediately rolled his eyes.

"For god's sake, what do you want now?" Victor asked as he adjusted his tie, making sure it was aligned in the collar of his shirt straightened.

Jack stood up and grabbed Victor by the throat and threw him against the wall, leaving his hand around his neck.

The receptionsit screamed in shock. "Oh my god, you can't do that!"

Jack turned around and growled. "Shutup and go back and eat a donught. You're looking thin around your thighs!"

He then turned back to Victor. "Stop jerking us around, Victor. I swear to god I ought to punch your head in!"

"I'll have your badge for this." Victor threatened as Jack let go. Victor coughed a little.

"You need to start telling us everything you know about your stepbrother." Sam instructed. "We now know for sure that he has your son."

"Really?" Victor asked, Jack could see concern now appearing on his face.

"Yes!" Jack screamed. "He rang us about an hour ago. And you want to know the details, are you concerned? I'm still going to tell you anyway.

When he rang us, he sounded scared. Your son. was scared for his life. You want to know why?"

"No, why?" Victor asked.

Sam just shook her head. This guy was a piece of work. She thought.

Jack cleared his throat, trying to contain his emotion while he spoke of Martin's injuries. "He was shot. In the leg. He was beaten and tortured. And no doubt , by the judging of the fear and the weakness of his voice - that your stepbrother raped him…again. Like he did when he was a child. He had him chained up to a pole in a warehouse. Then put him in a dark room in a warehouse, allowed him to call us. Only when we got there the whole thing was up in flames. F-L-A-M-E-S."

Jack was so caught up in the moment and enjoyed to see Victor's tough face crackle under such circumstances. Whatever came out of his mouth now was not planned , it was just coming out of him with no instruction from his brain to tell him to pack it in. "And when we pulled Martin's burnt body from whatever was remained of the warehouse building, there was nothing left of him except for a black crisped body. And you know what else, you son of a bitch? I could see the fear on his eyes, that moment when he knew he was going to die. Is that important for you enough to take you away from your silly stupid politics?"

Sam was completely stunned by Jack's little surprise. She didn't know he was going to try a different angle with Victor, she seen him do it with prime suspects all the time in other cases. But she had to wonder if this would work on such a cold man.

It did.

Victor burst into tears. "No, no, no!"

Jack watched him as he fell onto his knees.

"Martin." He burst into tears.

Jack couldn't help but a smile spread on his face. Given everything what was happening, he had to have some sort of moment of glory.

"Oh god…" Victor continued.

"You need to tell us everything about Max. He's on the run. He left this message for you - 'I enjoyed having your son. He was delicious'." Jack watched Victor try and compose himself.

Jack turned to Sam and saw her face. She was in disbelief. Jack read her mind and nodded. Obviously he couldn't believe that worked either.

Victor stood up and rubbed his eyes. "Depsite what you think, Jack - I care about my son. I don't want him to die."

Sam stepped forward. "Then act like a father, then a man that wants his son to shadow his career ambitions. Stop caring about the politics back in D.C and start caring about Martin. He needs his father more then ever."

Jack looked at her. "Back off. But she's right, start acting like you care because he's going to need you to support him when he gets out of this mess. Now let's talk about Max."

"What do you want to know?" Asked Victor.

"Why didn't you stop him molesting your son? Were you aware that he had molested his son up until he was a teenager?" Jack asked.

"I knew." Victor said, ashamed.

"What kind of a parent sits there and lets his son be molested a disgusting pervert!" Sam almost shrieked. She didn't mean to sound so shrivel or have so much hate in her voice, but she knew Victor would justify the ends to his response to Martin's abuse. Despite his claims just then about caring for his son, Sam and Jack both knew it was empty promises.

"I let him do whatever he wanted. You see Max my responsibility when we were younger. My stepmother molested him. He never dealt with it." Victor said. "I pretended that he was okay , but I didn't know, I swear that he was going to go after Martin. When Martin told me a few years ago that he remembered Max molesting him and it was affecting his work and personal life , I knew that I shouldn't have just sat there and done nothing. It ended up doing more damage to Martin and to me. But Max paying me off was to keep me quiet, so I took the money and looked the other way. When my wife disappeared, Max stopped, he went completely off the rador. He never visited. But when Martin turned 16, he tracked his every move. From dates, to going out with friends, college homework, everything. You name it. He followed him invisibly. Martin really didn't notice, how could he notice?"

"In his journals, Martin said that Max tracked him again and he started sending him love letters on a monthly basis. We have those letters. Did you know about them?" Jack asked.

"No, Martin never said anything….by god….." Victor said. "So, Max….."

"Last week he attacked Martin in his own apartment." Sam informed. "He wrote about it. Don't you think it's coincidental that he sends Martin a threatening letter after not hearing from Martin in four years, and then attacks him and then kidnaps him on Monday? Your step brother had this all planned. He fooled you into looking the other way while he initiated his conquest on Martin. Martin was a young boy who looked for some guidance from his father, even more so after his mother disappeared."

Victor snarled at Sam. "Oh shut up you piss ass!"

"Hey!" Jack screamed. "Enough. Both of you. Can you share any light into his strengths and weaknesses? Something we can use for him to let Martin go if we need to bring in the Tact team. Anything, will be greatly appreciated, Victor."

"I know he has a short temper. If you suprise him or try and analyze him he will snap at you. I remember one incident when we were teenagers , a young girl was making fun of the way he looked without his glasses. He turned and smacked at her in the face until she died and drowned in her own blood." Victor said. It was a painful subject having to bring it up, but Martin was in trouble, and he knew Jack was right.

Jack just shook his head. "Let me guess, your dad being the ever negotiable dick-head in Washington, and with the entire police force, he had the case against his own son dropped yeah?"

'Pretty much." Victor said. "He felt there was no need for him suffer in jail at that young age."

"When did you and Martin's mother get divorced?" Asked Sam.

"We finalized the papers a week before she disappeared. We were divorced officially the day after she disappeared, not that it matters much." Victor said. "She was always a free spirit. A tramp would have been a much more better fit for that piece of crap."

Jack and Sam sighed.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the FBI headquarters

5.00pm

Vivien and Danny were going through mountains of financial paperwork that their perp, Max, had packed up over the last several weeks. Parking tickets, credit cards, hotel bills, phone bills, and food bills.

Everything was a pattern. Since Martin lived on the north side of New York City, in the upscale apartments of the city. Danny was going through Max's bank statements and a payment on Thursday last week, stood out to him.

"Hey, Viv, I may have something." Danny said, he was smiling , he was hoping it would give them a lead on where Martin and Max could be.

"What ya got?" Vivien said as she stood over him.

"A payment for Ruskings Hollings Warehouse , put a deposit down last Thursday for $59,000." Danny read.

"That the one that he burnt to the ground?" Asked Vivien.

"Yep, but look there's another one with the payment to the same Warehouse company , but a substantial amount larger then $59,000. It's for $590,000 dollars. He brought this one outright. Direct cash deposit into the business's account."

"You know what's more odd, he doubles the amount with the exact number from his previous deposit. $59,000 for the burnt down warehouse, and now $590,000 for another are warehouse? This guy is surely buying big. Does he want to kill Martin in a good looking warehouse?" Vivien asked. It was pretty weird and Danny had to admit it was fishy.

"Let's pull up the owner and see if we can chat to him." Danny said as he typed Rusking Hawlings into the FBI Local New York Business directory database.

The business came up on the screen and the owner's name too.

"The name is in George Riley.. Let's go pay this guy a visit!" Danny ordered in a slight excited tone. It was one thing close to try and save Martin. At that very moment, he wondered if Jack and Sam were having much luck with Victor.

**Ruskings Hollings**

**Main Office, Brooklyn**

**6.00PM**

The traffic was a killer trying to get over from New York to Brooklyn. It should have taken Danny and Vivien to get to the Ruskings Hollins office about 20 minutes, not 60 minutes. They parked in the adjacent car park to the building. There was only a white Mazda left in the parking lot. Danny and Vivien assumed it was George's car when they walked passed it.

When they got to the entrance of the building, they saw the door was already open. Both agents got their gun's out of their holsters and immediately stepped inside the reception area.

The reception area was a mess, there was blood on the floor and there was a trail of it leading down the staff hallway.

"I'll cover you." Vivien said to Danny as she drew her weapon together as they moved forward slowly.

Something wasn't right in here. It was too quiet in here.

They got down to the staff room and saw three bodies lying on the floor. Martin was lying on his stomach. His face bashed in, bruised, and bloody. There was an open gash on his stomach. His left leg was wet with blood and it was seeping through his suit pants. Danny and Vivien hurried over to him. Across from Martin was a dead female. One gunshot wound straight in between the nose. Her face was pretty much half gone. Bloody puring out. It meant that Max was probably still in the building.

Across from the dead receptionist was George Riley's body. He too was shot in the face. Only this time ants and worms were crawling into the open horrificness of the face. Brain splattered around the body.

Martin opened his eyes, but he was too weak to speak. He saw Vivien and Danny.

"Hey, oh god!" Vivien panicked. He was really hurt. "Just hang in there Martin, we're gonna get you out of here."

She saw the tears flow down his black and blue face. She squeezed his hand as she dialed for an ambulance.

Danny reached out to touch Martin, but he pulled his hands away. Danny gulped. "Hang in there, please, Martin."

"Why don't you all die together?" A voice called from behind them.

Danny and Vivien turned around to see Max standing there with an explosive device strapped to his chest and a remote in his hand.

"Hello Clarence and slave-dog." Max said with an evil smile.

He pulled out a gun from behind him and pointed it in their faces. "Get away from him now!"

He shoots at the roof, to prove to all three agents that he wasn't bluffing.

"Okay." Danny said raising his hands. "Take it easy. We're not going to do anything stupid."

"Damn straight you're not." Max agreed. "Give me your guns. Can't let you have those. You won't need them because I'm going to blow you all to oblivion."

Vivien and Danny unclipped their guns and slid them across the floor toward Max who then proceeded to pick them up and throw them out into the hallway. He slammed and locked the office door behind him.

He looked at Martin, who was weak as, and barely trying to keep a wake.

"My, poor baby." Max said.

"Get away from him. You touch him again, I'm going to rip your head off with my bear hands you f…." Danny screamed. Max turned around and shoved the gun in Danny's face.

"You will stay back!" Max screamed. "You got that!"

Danny furiously looked at Max in the eyes. Both eyes staring at each-other.

Vivien had to interject. What they hadn't seen was Viven dial Jack's cell phone number while they were staring at each-other and putting the phone beside Martin's wounded head.

"Let's all calm down. We don't want to explode anybody at all, we can still get out of this, Okay Max, we can work something out. Let's just take a deep breath." Vivien said as she pulled Danny back.

"You're a sick fuck." Danny muttered.

"Danny , not helping. I am trying to calm him, not agitate him." Vivien warned him. "Cool your jets, hotshot."

Danny looked at her and then at Martin and then sighed.

"Now, Max, tell us what do you want?" Vivien asked. "Whatever you want, we can try and organize it for you. Okay?"

Max looked at Martin. "I want my boy."

Martin groaned weakly.

Vivien had to swallow the hatred that she just felt when she heard Max say that about Martin. Having a kid herself, and having dealt with pedophiles on numerous occasions in this unit she was the protector for the children. Max, was a complete different pedophile to her. He was more sicker and psychotic then she had ever seen. In the past molesters and pedophiles usually corner their victims and have their way with them, in most cases Molesters had only one victim, while the pedophiles had many, but they would not kill them, but Max, he was just creepy.

"That's not going to happen, Max." Vivien said calmly and rationally. "You will be arrested for kidnapping a federal officer , torture, rape and assault and two counts of murder. Martin can't be yours. By the time your trial is finished. Martin would be long gone living his life. Because you'll be going to prison for a very long time. For the rest of your life."

She tried to be gentle with him as she knew he was mentally unbalanced. So far everything was going according to plan. She looked back at Martin, who seemed to be gurgling on his own saliva. He hadn't got much time. He looked at her begging for her to do something or to end his misery. The sad eyes and the face let alone, pained her to watch. Danny wanted to go to Martin and embrace him and protect him from Max, but he couldn't. Max was standing beside him, not allowing two of his colleagues to get to him.

"No, but Martin loves me. I love him." Max said.

"No, Max. You raped him. Do you get that? THe love your talking about it sick. Disgusting. You're a pedophile. It isn't love. Your relationship with Martin when he was a child was about exploiting his weaknesses to get him to trust you. When you did that to him you violated his right for a a good childhood. A happy one. Do you see what you did to Martin when he was just a boy, and what you're doing to him now?"

Max was getting confused. He knew that his relationship was special. He couldn't believe what he did to the boy was wrong. It was fate that they met and they had a relationship. He didn't believe anything else.

"He loved me." Max said as he tried not to cry. "I know he did that's why I kept going back , so that he could feel that from me."

"Sick…." Danny muttered.

"I'm not going to tell you shut your bony ass up, Danny again!" Vivien screamed at him. She turned back to Max.

"You raped him for since he was a small boy. Up until he was fourteen. Then you attacked him again at his apartment and then tortured him again in a warehouse. To what end? How is that love? You claim you love Martin,Max right?"

Max nodded. The old man was starting to loose his grip on reality and on the remote. Tears streaming down his face. "Of course."

"When you love someone, it does not mean you have the right to molest them when they're kids, nor does it give you the right to rape and torture them when they're adults. That's not love. That's perversion." Vivien said.

Before Max could say anything the door burst open and Jack and Sam burst in along with the response Tactical group. "FREEZE FBI! Don't move!" Jack screamed with his gun in hand pointing it at Max.

Max screamed. "I will blow you all up!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bullets hit Max in the back of the head in his stomach and his leg. One of the bullets came flying out of his mouth. He collapsed onto the ground onto his stomach. Blood pouring out of him like a raging flood.

"Who…?" Danny turned to see Martin had shot him. He had the gun pointed towards Max, but he couldn't see much now, Martin couldn't see.

He was to weak to look over to see that he had cold bloodily shoot Max.

He weakly asked as he dropped the gun to the ground, as well as his head. "Did….i….?"

Danny bent down and grabbed Martin's now free hand. He looked at Martin, and burst into tears. "Yeah, man. You got him."

Martin closed his eyes and sunk into unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

Hospital

A Couple hours later

Danny, Vivien, Sam and Jack were waiting outside in the Hospital waiting room. Martin was in surgery. On the way to the hospital he had continued to loose small vital signs, the bullet had passed through and did some more damage into his system then the paramedics had predicted. The bullet he received to the arm had moved more closer to his heart. The doctors were sure that after Martin had been moved that the damage was set in motion as the bullet just just grained an artery. It wasn't until they discovered that Martin was bleeding out through his lungs inside his system. He had already lost so much, going under surgery to remove the bullet to give him a chance to live was pushing it. But they were going to try.

Danny's hands were shaking as he paced back and forward down the corridior of the waiting room. He had sunk into a depression about Martin. He just felt so bad, and he believed he should be feeling more about it. Here his best friend could die on the operating table, and Danny, being himself, was just realizing that he may never see him again. Not when he had so much he wanted to tell Martin. He was sorry that he rejected him, but he loved him, and wanted Martin to know it.

"Danny, can you stop pacing, you're making the rest of us dizzy and making marks on the hospital floor." Jack said, noticing how nervous and sad he was at the same time. Jack cleared his throat and scratched his arm.

He was still picturing the moment when Martin had snuck in several bullets into Max. For just one second, Jack, thought that he had actually shot the perp himself. It had all gone down in slow motion for him. Max's eyes opened look, a sickening smile spreading across the face and the licking of his own lips before falling onto the ground and giving into the darkness of death. Jack felt relief when he saw the purp dead. Although it would have been if he pulled the trigger, but Jack knew that Martin had some strength left to finally end Max's run. He had been through it rough and he ensured it would end badly.. For Max.

Jack just was just hoping it would not end badly for Martin. No one deserved to have their lift cut short the way Max was planning to cut short Martin's after Martin continued to stand up and reject Max's manipulative and molesting ways.

Jack's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Janice come running down the hallway.

"Jack!" She called in a tired and upset tone.

Jack and the other stood up. Jack grabbed her shoulders, to stop her from bursting into the double doors that lead to the operating down the corridor.

"Where is he? Is he okay? I need to see him! Please Jack!" Janice screamed, tears rolling down her face.

"He's in surgery. They're doing everything they can to get the bullet out and to stop the bleeding." Jack said patiently as he managed to get her to stop rustling through his grip.

JaniCe searched his eyes desperately. "Did he…Did max? How bad is he?"

Jack didn't know how to answer the first part of the question, he wasn't sure if Janice was talking about the molestation. So he answered the second part of it instead. "As far as we know there's a lot of bleeding and the bullet moved to the vicinity of his heart. I know it looks bad, but they're doing everything they can. We can't think the worse yet."

Janice looked terrified. She was terrified. She sat down beside Jack and Vivien and looked at Danny. They met eyes just for one second and she frowned at him. Danny wiped the tears down his cheeks and looked away. He felt nervous, he saw that cold stare - like she knew that it was him that had been cruel to Martin.

Janice frowned and turned to Jack. "This the guy, that Martin was telling me about?"

Jack looked at her, he was quickly taken aback by Janice's sudden revelation of knowing that Danny was the man that Martin loved. "It isn't hard to put two and two together. When he spoke to me, I knew he was talking about Danny Taylor. His best friend. Those two were inseparable when I would visit with my kids."

Danny sat down across from the rest of the team.

"Do you feel proud of yourself?" Janice screamed louder. Not meaning to, but her anger for the man was just boiling her blood she felt she needed to.

"Okay listen." Vivien said to Janice. "Yelling at Danny isn't going to change the fact Martin is in surgery. It's not going to help him or us by turning on each-other. All we can do now is just wait and see what happens, okay?"

"Come on Janice, let's get something to drink." Vivien offered. "My shout, okay?"

Janice couldn't help but take up that offer. She glared evily at Danny and then followed Vivien to the cafeteria to get whatever was available, wherever that may be.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Sam asked. She looked at Jack, waiting for him to reassure him.

"Of course he is. He's a tough nut." Jack said.

Sam sighed nervously. "Jack, I know this is probably going to be the wrong time to mention this, but I need to let you know."

Jack looked at her, giving his friend and ex-girlfirend a puzzled look. "Know what?"

Sam cleared her throat. "I'm moving in with Greg."

Jack's eyes darted at her when he heard that. He didn't like her fiancee. He thought he was a moron who just used his words to try and impress people. His run in with Jack didn't ease the view either.

Sam caught his vacant but yet "who cares" kind of look. She cleared her throat. It had been two years since they had broken their engagement, and although things between were still strained, they at least maintained a good relationship work wise. But it seemed from Sam's perspective that Jack only cared about his own feelings for her, not hers towards him. When she broke it off, he just cared about it how it affected him, not Sam and how difficult it was for her to come to make the decision.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jack asked, he sounded rude and disrespectful. He didn't mean for it to come out that way, but he was more worried about Martin then Sam's little moving in package with her stupid fiancee.

Sam scoffed silently to herself and sat back in her seat. "Forget it."

"I would have thought that maybe you would have been more sensitive given the current situation. What makes you think I could care when Martin is in surgery holding onto dear life?" Jack asked.

Sam could hear the resentment in his voice and decided that he was right. It was a particular odd time to tell him about the move in. "You're right, I'm sorry. Jack. I am sorry."

Vivien and Janice returned a few minutes later. Vivien noted Sam and Jack's body language. Sam had her back turned towards him while Jack folded his arms.

She hated it when these two got into a domestic. Especially since they had a long history of doomed repeating affairs. It sometimes got in the way of doing the job. Vivien thought that Sam could have done much better then Jack, He was just so damaged and over the years his damage wrecked havoc on his co-workers and his approach to doing the job. Vivien was lucky enough to not have fallen for a man like that. Although she was divorced and the temptation was there, she never actually allowed herself to go there with Jack. She knew what it would involve and the drama at the FBI it would cause. To her prediction it came true when his failed relationship with his wife and then with Sam repeated and fell apart and time and time again.

However when Martin came along, she thought Sam and Martin would have gotten married. Their relationship was actually pretty solid until they broke up. Vivien knew that the cause of that break up was of course Sam's unresolved feelings for Jack and for Martin that must have stung. Vivien was trying to figure out if Martin knew that he was gay then and trying to hide it.

_Wait stop this! Stop investigating your co-workers. Switich off mode now!_Vivien told herself in her head. It was just like her to keep thinking about things and not letting go.

Out of hte corner of her eye Janice saw a doctor slowly approaching them. She jumped up and threw the remainder of the semi cold coffee onto Jack's lap, it mostly got him on the shirt.

"Who's related to Fitzgerald?" The doctor asked.

Danny wanted to jump up and say that he was his boyfriend, but Janice beat him to the punch.

Janice turned around and gave Jack and his colleagues a look. "I would like to talk to the doctor alone please."

Vivien, Sam and DAnny all looked surprised each other.

The Doctor looked at Janice's face and then at Martin's colleagues. "If you're not family…."

"I understand that. But we're his work colleagues and his friends. We have a right …we want to know he's okay." Jack said with a tense expression.

"Please doctor, just tell me if he's going to be okay?" Janice ordered.

"He's fine and he's in recovery. He's been sedated at the moment, you won't be able to talk to him for another day or so." The doctor replied.

"So there's no more bleeding?" Asked Janice.

"We manage to repair the damage and take out that bullet. He's very close that if it slipped further, it would have no doubt his heart. But he's alive and hopefully will recover well." The Doctor replied.

"Can we see him?" Asked Vivien.

"No!" Janice shouted. "No! Only I will see him."

The agents looked at each-other, again confused by Janice's outburst.

Janice looked at them and cleared her throat. "He's been through enough don't you think? Seeing you guys when he wakes up, it won't..it won't be pleasant for him."

Jack couldn't work out why Janice was being so over protective. Something wasn't right here. Janice was protecting something and it wasn't her brother. It seemed like she was keeping her own kind of secret.

Jack decided that he wouldn't argue. He would let things be. But he could add Janice Fitzgerald to the equation of the investigation.

"Okay, that's fine. Tell us when he wakes up, we'll come and see him soon." Jack said putting on a phony friendly voice.

Janice sighed with relief and smiled. SHe didn't say anything but turned around quickly to follow the doctor to the intensive care unit.

" the hell was that?" Vivien asked. She and Danny and Sam were just as quickly and as confused as Jack was.

Jack turned around. "An upset sister."

"More like an irritated bowel syndrome." Danny remarked.

Everyone just gave him a weird look.

"Look, I guess there's not much we can do here." Jack said. "I'm going to head off."

"You're going?" Danny asked, baffled by Jack's snap decision.

"She won't let us see him now, besides once he's out of intensive care he'll be up for more visitors." Jack said. Danny sighed annoyingly. He decided right there and then that one of them should just stay and that it was going to be him.

Danny watched as the others head out of the hospital. Danny decided to walk into the Intensive Care Unit and try and find Martin's room. He didn't have to go far, he saw Janice outside crying at his doorway. His door looked open, Danny was wondering whether she was debating whether to go in or not.

Out of the corner of her Janice turned to see Danny. She flashed a furious look at him and then looked away. The hatred in her stomach was now swimming through her vains throughout her body. She wanted to grab his gun and shoot Danny with it. Two bullets to the head would satisfy her. She would be able to dump the body outside the hospital as well, and no moronic doctor or nurse would be none the wiser. But she couldn't do that. Nor would she want to. Janice wanted Danny to suffer for what he did to her brother. Janice thought Danny was better than that. A good person. A bloke with a heart, who liked to live and make life of a party. But although Martin didn't say that Danny rejected him outright that day, she knew it was him. Janice saw the way that Martin admired Danny. By the way he looked at Danny and the way he laughed at his jokes and the way he talked about him in general. Janice looked away from Martin from the door way. He was hooked up to machines and his chest was showing with some form of hospital gear attached to his chest. The machine beeping that was monitoring his vital signs. The curtain to the window that out-looked the city, was closed. So natural light was getting into the room, which made the scene more discomforting and sad for both Danny and Janice to see Martin in that room.

"You know, he would not have said anything to you, if he didn't think you'd matter to him." Janice said quietly.

Danny cleared his throat. He hated the way now she was trying to position as authority figure in the situation. He got that his rejected of Martin's true feelings may have sent him to this, and he'd happy to admit that, but she didn't know anything about why he reacted the way he did. Nor was it any of her business to try get into the middle of the situation.

"Look I appreciate that you are worried about Martin, and that's good because he's your brother but Janice, you can't insert yourself into what's going down between us. So, please don't. Just know that I really do love Martin and if I could…."

Janice laughed, but not in a way that what Danny said was funny, but to contradict what he just said. She just smiled at him in suprise at the crap that he was spilling out to her.

"You got to be kidding me! You're telling me to stay out of my brother's personal affairs?" Janice asked with a angry tone. "You can't do that, Danny. He was in pain. He was hurting. The one person he truly loved and cared about - which is you - humiliated him - made him feel like the worst guy there was on the planet. You're telling me that I cant' be concerned about that?"

Danny wanted to reply to that, but he realized that she was only just protecting Martin. He had hurt him, and Janice was on the war path to ensure that Danny wouldn't do any more to hurt Martin again, after all the hell he had just been through.

"He nearly died, do you get that?" Janice said trying to hold back her tears. "He nearly died after the hell he went through with Max. He let himself be seduced by Max all over again, because of you. I don't see how Maritn can forgive you for that and I don't know why you are here trying to seek that from him. Just leave him alone."

Danny sighed. He didn't want this. He didn't want to do any of this. He just wanted Martin to wake up. "Don't shut me out of his life, please."

The begging in his voice was apparent, but Janice was too strong willed and angry to let her soft side betray that hurt and anger that she felt after what Danny did.

She walked into his room and began to close the door. "Please, just go."

She then slammed the door in his face. Danny standing there feeling every bit of hateful word and energy still sting him in the face.

Martin had regained consciousness the day that Janice and Danny exchanged unpleasantness. To his and Janice surprise, the first thing that he said after stirring awake was "Danny." He had mumbled the name a few times as he woke up, but tried to pretend not to remember saying it, while Janice was in the room. He had apparently woken up a few times in the last couple days and inadvertently heard Janice's conversation over the phone with their father, Victor. He knew his father wouldn't come and that phone call that Janice had made, seemed to prove that theory true very much.

Martin had been moved from the intensive care unit to regular private room in the hospital. He was not propped up against any hospital equipment except for the drip and the machine to mentor his heart rate. He was wearing the hospital issued blue gown ,which he hated, it acted more like a dress then anything and every time the air con would kick on at night, he would get cold and have to try and wrap himself tightly around the blankets.

He was flipping through the New York Times newspaper and came across an article about his father, Victor.

It read: FBI chairman involved in sex scandal.

Martin sighed annoyingly. _Got to hand it to him, didn't take my father long to detour the media focus on my drama away onto him._ In a way for Martin, it was a blessing , all he had been hearing on the news was about the fatal shooting of Max and how the FBI was planning to launch an investigation and an inquiry into the agents involved in the incident. Martin thought this was completely bullshit - first of all Max was no innocent victim here, he abused Martin when he was a kid, stalked him, kidnapped him and tortured him. How was Max the innocent victim in all of this? What Martin saw last night on the news was disturbing - Max's wife and fifteen year old son and daughter appeared on the television announcing that police brutality was a crime in the city and that they were planning to sue the FBI and other law enforcements who were out there on the beat using excessive force which resulted in the death of a family's loved one. Martin could sympathize to a degree - but Max was not a victim. As far as Martin was concerned, the punishment fit the crime. Considering he was the one that mortally wounded the man. Any distraction was welcomed at this point. Just thinking about re-living everything in front of the Internal Investigation Unit was going to kill Martin and he knew it. The secret that he hoped would stay secret would be ever exposed for them to poke at and it would not look good for him because they would essentially spin the shooting as "revenge" for the molestation and for the kidnapping, stalking and torture no matter how Martin would spin it.

He flicked to another page, he didn't want to stare at the small article about his father or that picture of him. He was mad he didn't care to come and pay him a visit in the hospital, but he was mad at himself even more thinking that Victor would change. Martin wanted that father figure, and clearly Victor didn't want no part of that, so Martin had to reset the goal to not give a crap about Victor. Clearly that was easier said then done - but being stuck in the hospital bed for 24 hours a day and being conscious for most part of it - he was thinking about it quite alto.

Martin put the paper down in his lap and stared up at the ceiling. He was so bored and agitated. It seemed no one was wanting to visit him, he was hoping Jack, Vivien or Sam would visit him. He wanted to see them again, give him some encouragement or whatever it was to cheer up hospital patients. When Janice visited ,he felt, it was more of an obligation of guilt and he didn't want to see that in her face, because he had a lot of guilt in him to deal with. He just wanted somebody who really cared about him pop in for a chat and at the very least sneak him a nice star bucks cappuccino and large Hawaiian pizza.

He had to stop thinking, it was giving him a headache. He sighed and grabbed the television remote. He turned it to KCSF. Some old black and white moving was playing. It was better then the news. Some girl was trying to get in hte cab, but she fell over in the mud. Martin chuckled at that. It reminded him of when he pushed his sister in the mud on purpose only just to infuriate his mother because she wouldn't allow him to go to a sleep over.

Martin found the black and white moving to be a bit boring, the scene just kept jumping to the muddy woman , so he decided to flick it to another channel. KCSF HD. That didn't simulcast whatever was on hte standard KCSF channel it was showing an NFL game. He smiled and put the remote down. Something nice to watch for a while , he thought.

"Martin?" A voice called from the door way.

He turned the volume down on the tv and turned his head to see Vivien at the door way with Sam and Jack. He smiled and waved them in.

"Come in, please. The only thing you are interrupting is my boredom and my viewing of this NFL game." Martin said with a beaming smile on his face, feeling great that his part wish to see his colleagues had come true. He noticed that Danny wasn't with them. Martin sighed. He didn't particular wanted to see him.

"Danny said he wasn't feeling the best. So he couldn't come." Vivien said as she tried to be very careful of approaching the subject with Martin.

"I could careless, really." Martin said with a flat tone. "Okay, I'm making it perfectly clear to you all. I am not coming back to the unit."

Jack nearly choked on his own breathe. "Excuse me?"

"Martin, seriously no?" Sam said with a sad expression on her face. "Don't make any stupid decisions."

"She's right." Jack said. "If this is about what happened with your uncle and the kidnapping, we're going to give you time off for that. For however long you need."

"It's mainly Danny, Jack." Martin admitted.

No one said a word for a moment.

"Be reasonable, Martin. You can't just transfer departments over the fall out with Danny. Aren't you bigger then that?" Vivien asked.

Martin sighed. "Actually I'm looking at quitting the FBI altogether. Danny being the main reason why I want out of Missing Persons, but I thought about it, this career is just too dangerous now. My past has come back to haunt me and nearly killed me and I just think it's time I retire and do something else.'

Jack and Sam eyed each-other. They both wondered if Victor had anything to do with this.

"Did Victor say something to you?" Jack asked bluntly. He hated Victor with a passion, wouldn't mind shooting that guy in the neck.

"No, Jack. My father hasn't come to visit me once since I been in here. He has nothing to do with my decision. I just think it's best for all concerned, and including my own sanity, that I don't return to work. I'll get my resignation letter to you ASAP." Martin said, in a state of certain and a number of fact. All that it pained him to say these words out-loud and to even think of them, he felt that a relief sweep over him. He didn't need Danny to beg at him, he obviously had to let that go and that he lost his friend. So Martin was doing the heartbreaking thing that had to be fone, wiping his hands of him and moving on as much as he may not like the decision, he knew that he had to be done. Going back to work and seeing Danny and that hateful face he saw that night, it would be hell. Martin knew that it wouldn't be productive to have that while on the job, so it came down to leaving.

Vivien, Jack and Sam fell silent. They didn't want to loose Martin. He was a great agent, team player and friend. He deserved to be there wiht them.

"Martin, you have to know how sorry Danny is. I spoke to him when you were missing, he regrets what he did to you. Maybe you should hear him out, and hear his side of things. Danny does love you." Jack opened his mouth. He hated seeing both of his colleagues on the war opposite ends, but he realized when he opened his mouth, he caught Martin's glare. A look in his eye said that it would kill him.

"I couldn't careless what Danny said. He hurt me, Jack. If he loved me, if he felt the same way as I did, he would not have hurt me the way he did. There is no way I can forgive him for that. He's just going to have to deal with it. And his own demonds."

Jack sighed. "I guess that's it then, I can't change your mind?"

"What am I a poodle?" Martin asked. "I'm not a dog that can change his mind at his owner's last call. Jack you have been through this with your ex-wife, hot and cold, you know people with cruel in their blood can't change."

Jack couldn't argue with that. He knew what Martin was talking about, in regards to his ex wife. He sighed and felt the urge to get out of the room. He suddenly felt uncomfortable being around Martin after hearing those words form his mouth. It was just as uncomfortable being around Danny now. Obviously he couldn't choose between the two as they were his friends. But he suddenly felt that the split between the two will now eventually force him and the others to pick sides. Leaving one on the outside. Jack didn't want that. He was sure Vivien and Sam felt the same way.

That night, Danny laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. His apartment was located on the outskirts of the edge of New York city, in one of the bad areas of Brooklyn. He could hear screaming, shouting and even dogs barking in the next apartment. Motorbikes and cars beeping their horns in the distance of the street as well young teenagers swearing and playing loud music.

Danny didn't enjoy being in this particular neighborhood, but his spending habits and his debt forced him out of his 720 square metre house and luxury that he had for five years into this situation. He didn't like what he had become. He became so hard, and he turned his frustrations on Martin. He truly did love Martin, and he still couldn't figure out why he reacted the way he did. He was not anti-homosexual, he was not anti-anything, he truly didn't appreciate the step that Martin had made in order to say what he did. Danny was scared, because he figured it would have been an unspoken thing and not something addressed out loud.

Danny turned to his radio click. It read 11:15 PM. He couldn't sleep, his mind was full of thought of Martin, his sexuality and Danny's own confusion.

He looked at a photo that he held of him and Martin. Both happy. Both smiling. The photo had been taken at a golf course Las Veges, a year ago. They had took some vacation time to go on holiday and had the best week in Las Vegas. Golf, casinos and lots of hamburgers. In the photo Danny's hands were wrapped around Martin's shoulders, and they both had the biggest grins on their faces….

Now… Danny had just had a sad and down look on his face.

He was loosing his best friend and he didn't want that. But how could he stop it?

Danny put the photo down, as he did, his phone beeped. He had received a text message.

He looked at it and it was from Jack.

_He's going to quit, Danny. Do you get that? If you love him, go to him and get through to him. Tell him what you really feel. If you don't - you're going to regret it. Cya tomorrow at work. Oh could you go to Starbacks and pack me in four donuts and a flat white tomorrow morning before work? I would do it myself, but busy man and all. Thanks. - Jack M._

Danny looked at the text message and slightly laughed at the last part and giggled to himself. Jack always made him go to Starbacks on a once a week basis. It was nothing knew, but Danny was flat broke, or at least he thought he was. So he wasn't too excited about the prospect of checking his on line bank statements to ensure that he could afford to get Jack his food.

Danny turned on his laptop and logged into the computer. He logged into the Internet banking and website to confirm his fear.

_Savings Account — $1.20_

_Chequing Account — $-1.05_

_Housing Account - $399,201 _

_Sorry Jack._Danny thought. _I am broke! This week._

He was more worried about his house holding account. He had only paid 200,000 of his massive 720sq metre house off. And the bank were still chasing him for the rest. He didn't like the situation at all and he couldn't exactly start saving again, because he knew the next pay day was going straight toward groceries and bills. His earnings every two weeks was only just $884.94 (take away $150 for US Taxes) and by the time he would pay for groceries and bills it didn't leave much to put on his house holding account.

He was royally screwed. Romantically Screwed too.

He saw Martin's mobile phone number and name in the text messaging service box of his phone. It was the last message he received from Martin that night when Martin told him his feelings. It read: _Looking forward to Dinner tonight, with my awesome friend._.

Danny smiled at that text message. _Yeah Martin, I was awesome but now I am not so awesome. So sorry to have hurt you so bad._

He didn't know what he was thinking but he decided to send Martin a message. The chances of Martin receiving it though, were highly remote, because of the hospital's policy against usage of Mobile phones in the hospital.

The message he wrote to Martin : _Martin, can we talk please? Can I come and see you? I want to make things right. Please?_

Danny didn't want to sound obsessive or have that begging Ora around him, he just wanted to try and see if Martin was willing to hear him out. He hoped he had. He didn't want Martin to quit over this. Certainly not. But he was just hoping. And that's all what Danny had in this particular moment. Hope. It's what he needed at least on his side.

Martin was laying awake in his hospital bed. He thought about what Jack had said to him earlier. Jack had a point -quitting the FBI over something personal was a stupid thing to do and he would regret it. Martin loved his job, he didn't want to go, but he would also in a way be humbled if he did go so he could avoid Danny at all costs Apart of him missed Danny. The text message he had just received proved that. His heart ached to respond to the text message to let Danny know that he was OK and that they could talk. But his brain was telling him that Danny would just hurt him again. How could love follow all reason if it knows what it wants?

Martin climbed out of the bed. He had been resting all day and his back began to sore. He could feel the wound to his chest ache again as he stretched, so he quickly put down his arms and walked over to the window to stare outside the dark blue New York night sky. All light up with street lights, people wondering around the city and the lights of building skyscrapers in particular the New York Skyscraper. He looked around. New York itself was just swept in it's own bright colours, business , plays and people wondering. Martin felt lonely on the inside of the hospital and without his father or his sister here at the moment, the yearn to be with Danny pulled stronger.

He only had another 3 days to go until he could get out of hospital. But it was three days away. He wanted to see Danny. He needed to see him. Martin walked over to his belongings in the wardrobe and fumbled through his gym bag and found his mobile phone.

He looked at Danny's message again and then sent a reply. It read: _Come see me tomorrow, Danny. _

Once he sent the sent message button, he knew that he couldn't take it back.

Danny stood outside Martin's hospital room , a day later. He seemed nervous about going in that room. He wanted to make sure that whatever he said to Martin was planned, and no stupid things coming out of his mouth. Although when he is usually nervous Danny did say stupid things, it was going to happen, but Danny wanted to try and control it this time around.

He had trouble picking out his clothes this morning. So he just put a pair blue faded jeans that didn't loo washed and an old yellow t-shirt that looked faded. It wasn't exactly he was made of money to get things washed. Know one needed to know that. Especially of all - Martin.

Danny knocked on the door and opened it up when he heard Martin's voice to call him in.

When he opened the door he saw Martin sitting by the window in a comfortable chair. Martin almost stood up when he realized it was Danny at the doorway.

Danny didn't say anything for the moment. He looked at Martin and wanted to offer him a smile. His friend (or ex friend from his perspective now) looked good. Obviously on the mend.

"You got my message." Martin said, his tone not being friendly. He didn't plan on it that way, but he wasn't going to let Danny think that he had forgiven him or that he was planning to on forgiving him. Martin had something up on his sleeve, and it would be the perfect revenge in a way. Giving Danny a taste of his own medicine would somewhat lift the burden and hatred he was feeling over him.

"I am happy that you wanted to see me. Maybe , without all the others on our ass's, we can try and work things out." Danny said.

"Get stuffed." Martin snapped as he stood up.

Danny was taken aback by Martin's anger. It was nothing he had seen before. The last look he saw was on the night he rejected him, pain and sorrow, this was a completely different Martin. Danny saw the hatred and anger burning in Martin's eyes.

Danny looked at Martin. "Come on, Martin, you have to know, I never meant to hurt you the way I did."

"You still did, Danny." Martin said refusing to accept Danny's explanation. "You made me feel like there was something wrong with me for telling you those feelings. If you take Max out the equation, I've been struggling with my feelings for you ever since I met you. Do you know how much anxiety I had over admitting how much I felt about you that night I had to deal with before I could?"

Danny stood there feeling sheepish and he felt his face got bright red as he thought about that night.

"And then at the office on Monday…." Martin said as his voice trailed off. He folded his arms and turned his back toward Danny. "You actually teased me. Like children do in primary and high school. You made me feel small. Like a tiny insect that didn't deserve to have a life. How can I forgive you for that, Danny? How can you expect me too?"

Danny didn't have the answer to the question. He wanted forgiveness, but he didn't know the words of how he could get Martin to forgive him.

"But there is one thing you can do." Martin said with a sneer.

Danny looked at him a surprised look on his face. "What?"

Martin looked at him. "Get the hell out of my life. You're an asshole. You're a jerk. You pretend to be this caring person, but all you are is a bigot, who has a fear of commitment and is willing to make someone else feel crappy about themselves for being who they are. You play with people's emotions, Danny. You screw them over when they don't meet your needs. Do you honestly get what you did to me was horrible? The bullying at work, the stuff at the restaurant, do you even know how cruel that was? And what's worse, I fucking love you, and I hate you at the same time."

Martin didn't plan on crying right there, but he burst into tears as he said these words. "I fucking love you, you ripped my heart out and you stabbed it with a knife. How do you honestly expect me just to ignore that? What you say to me it may sound good and apologetic , but I can't trust those words. I can't trust anything you say anymore."

Danny's heart melted at the brutal truth that was coming out of Martin's mouth. He didn't think about the consequences as bad it was to having rejected Martin the way he did it. Martin's disadvantage in this situation was that he couldn't handle one more rejection in his life. He could see the pain and fear in Martin's eyes that resided there.

"You hurt me, Danny." Martin screamed as he fell to the floor. Danny stood there, completely shocked at how Martin was breaking down in front of him.

He didn't know what to do or what to say. He feared what would come out of his mouth would be useless and that Martin's emotional breakdown.

"I fucking hate this. Danny , I can't breathe without, I can't even .. I want you so bad , but you fucked with my head." Martin screamed as he cried. He covered his face with his hands. Everything that he had been through had hit him all of a sudden. The kidnapping, Max molesting him again and the shooting of Max. It had hit Martin all at once. Danny watched him as he cried into his own hands.

Danny didn't need to say anything in order to realize that Martin needed someone to hug hum, he hurried over to him and picked up martin's head and let him cry into his chest. Martin wrapped his arms around Danny's neck and continued to cry.

Danny closed his eyes and silently said. "I'm here, okay? Cry all you want. I don't care if you want to push me away, but I'm here. I always will be."

**THE END? (I am possibly thinking of leaving this as the ending. And let your imagination run wild as to whether these two get together or not. Let me know your thoughts.**


End file.
